2 days ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Madurai Kamaraj University college bank account frozen over PF arrears
MADURAI: The bank account of Madurai Kamaraj University College (MKUC) was frozen on August 6 (Wednesday) based on a request from the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) Madurai, allegedly over repeated delays in the payment of provident fund contributions. and levied a penalty of Rs 34.98 lakh on the institution on the same day.
An EPFO (Madurai) official said a warning and a show-cause notice was issued in July. The college authorities sought time, but did not honour their commitment, the official said, adding that fresh notices were issued on Wednesday, following which the bank account was frozen. 'The institution delayed PF contributions on several instances during the last two-and-a-half years (between 2022 and July 2025). The deadline for the payment is the fifteenth of every month,' added the official. K Palanikumar, MKUC lecturer, claimed that the institution is yet to fully pay the PF contributions of many staff members who joined in 2019. After petitions and requests, the officials started collecting PF amount from the period of December 2023, instead of from 2019, he said.
'After complaints, we collected our total PF contribution for the period of 2019-2024. A total of 120 employees, paid a total of Rs 16 lakh as our contribution. But, college authorities did not pay their contributions,' he said.
A source from the college said the institution has already paid Rs 13.43 lakh and around Rs 21.55 lakh is yet to be settled. 'The penalty is only related to the delay in the payments to the EPFO office. Since the penalty is huge, the college authorities have requested to settle the amount in instalments,' added the source. MKUC principal Dr B George said the issue would be resolved on Monday.
