India's retirement fund body EPFO has extended the deadline to apply for higher pension in the employee pension scheme till 26 June. The earlier deadline to apply was 3rd May 2023.
The Ministry of Labour & Employment has mentioned that several members and representatives wanted extension of time. "More than 12 lakh applications have been received till date. The online facility was to remain available only till 03.05.2023. In the meantime, many representations have been received from various quarters seeking extension of time. The issue has been considered and it has been decided that in order to provide a larger window of opportunity and in order to enable all eligible persons to file their applications, the timeline for filing applications would now be till 26th June, 2023," said the ministry in a statement.
The statement also added that the extension in the timeline is to facilitate and provide ample opportunities to the pensioners / members so as to ease out any difficulty being faced by them.
As per Mint, EPFO has made arrangements for obtaining applications for the validation of option / joint option from pensioners / members as per the Hon’ble Supreme Court order dated 4 November 2022. To facilitate this process, online facility has been made available.