File an RTI application for EPF withdrawal or EPF

Transfer Stutus
by Manish Chauhan 797 comments
Are you frustrated because of the delay in your EPF withdrawal or EPF transfer? Are you
waiting from many months or years at times to get any kind of clarity on your EPF status?
Are you frustrated with your EPF withdrawal or transfer?
I have seen countless number of people on this blog and other forums really getting
frustrated with waiting and waiting for years at times for their EPF withdrawal/transfer and
they dont get any information or update on the status. It is only when you personally visit
the EPFO offices, you get some clarity, but even that does not help. So now if you are fed up
with the EPFO office and its slow speed of work, whats the final step you can take? In
this article I will show you how you can use file an RTI application and successfully get lot of
information and at times get your work done at a speed which you never imagined. Filing
RTI application for EPF information has worked wonders for many people and they claim
that it works brilliantly (if you do it right way). I know your eyes are shining, but lets
understand some background before you rush to find out how it works!
Some success stories of RTI solving the EPF issues
Case 1
I would like to share the success with RTI. I opted for EPF withdrawal about 4 months
back, and did not receive my PF amount until I decided to file an RTI Application. And it
was realy shocking to see the amount getting credited to my bank account within 3 days
of receipt of application by K.R.PURAM, Bangalore EPFO. Rohit
Case 2
My EPF withdrawal issue was resolved with RTI. After submitting the forms, after around
3 months, the EPFO claimed that they transferred my withdrawal MONEY to my bank
account. However I didnt receive the money in my bank account. I raised online
grievances for 3 times. Each time I got the same answer saying that the money has been
transferred and has not been returned back to EPFO, so it must have been deposited to
my bank account and I should check my bank account. Around 6 months went in this
process with no results. As a last option, I filed an RTI application and to my surprise, the
money got deposited in my bank account in 5 days (with additional interest for 6 months)
and also received a reply for my RTI application.If EPF grievance system does not work
for you, go for RTI. Manish
Case 3
Yep RTI does the trick most of the time , I got all my PF issues sorted out with RTI
application and have all the written proofs with cheque numbers etc for all my previous
transfers. They even informed my about my balances for current year and told that they
are yet to prepare the PF a/cs for my company for the current year , but here are your
balances with us. It really helps. Hitesh

What is RTI and how it applies to EPFO office?
RTI as we all know is a common mans tool to get a speedy and clear information from any
govt office. Supreme Court has clearly mentioned under article 19(1) that Right to
Information is a part of Right to Speech & Expression. Now, as EPFO comes under the RTI
purview, you can file an RTI application and ask anything you want about your EPF. Govt is
bound to respond within 30 days to your letter with all the information you had asked. So if
you are unclear about what your EPF status is or if your EPF transfer work has even started?
Why did your EPF MONEY still not credited in your bank account etc etc You can ask all
these questions and you should be getting the 100% right and clear answers within 30 days.
The only point here is that you should be doing it the RIGHT way. So lets see what all you
need!
Note : Before filing the RTI , a good idea would be to file a EPF grievance redressal
form online
File RTI in 3 easy steps
Step 1: Buying a Postal Order of Rs 10 from Post Office
The first step is to go to Post Office and buy a Postal Order for Rs 10. It should be in favor of
Accounts Officer of the Concerned EPFO Office. Like if you are sending your EPF letter to
Bangalore, the Rs. 10 postal order should be in favor of Accounts Officer, EPFO, Bangalore.
The fees can also be paid by demand draft, but that would be expensive, better go for Postal
order as it is commonly used for RTI.
Step 2: Drafting your RTI letter
The first step is to draft RTI letter for your EPF related queries. All you need to do is write a
letter on a normal paper (better take a very high quality A4 size paper). Though there is
no specific format for RTI application letter, still there are some rules of drafting it.
The letter subject should start as Application Form for Seeking Information under RTI Act
2005
The letter should be addressed to Central Public Information Officer, Employees Provident
Fund Organisation, (Provide Concerned PF office address). Refer to this EPFO directory for
exact address of PF office for your jurisdiction.
Make sure you mention your Name, Address, Contact telephone number and your Email id
along with EPF account number.
Now, put all your queries which you want to ask regarding your EPF (putting them as bullet
points is recommended)
As a next thing, you should have a declaration - I do hereby declare that I am a citizen of
India. I request you to ensure that the information is provided before the expiry of the 30 day
period after you have received the application
Finally at the end of the letter, mention the proof of payment of fees as - Proof of payment of
application fee: Attached Indian Postal Order for Rs. 10 /- dated dd/mm/yyyy favoring
Accounts Officer of EPFO as application fee.
And complete the letter by putting your Signature, Place and Date.
Sign the letter and Put your Postal address
Mention the payment details like Postal order number, issuing post office, date, cash receipt
details, etc., towards the end of your application
Following is a sample RTI letter.

Download the PDF format here
Step 3 : Send the RTI letter by Registered Post or Speed Post
The final step is to send this RTI letter by Registered post only, as no courier is accepted.
Please make sure you keep the acknowledgement receipt carefully for all the future
communication (if any). It might be required by you. Once you complete the 3rd step, the
RTI letter should reach the concerned authority in few days and then within 30 days you
should be getting the reply within 30 days (as per RTI act).
Two RTIs application needed in case of transfer of EPF
Note that in case of EPF withdrawal case , all you need to do is file an RTI query for the
concerned EPF office. But in case of Transfer of EPF, there are two EPF offices involved,
they are Source and Target. For example if you got transferred from Bangalore to Delhi and
applied for EPF transfer, then your source EPFO office is Bangalore and your Target office
is Delhi.
You will first have to file an RTI for the Source EPFO office to find out if the transfer has
happened from their side or not. It might be the case that they rejected your application and
you dont even know about it. Once you file an RTI to them, you will atleast know what is the
exact status. If you get a reply that the Transfer has still not happened, then they will let you
know by when it will happen or give some pointers on the situation, but in case they say that
they have transferred it from their side, then it means that the issue is on Target EPF office
and they might not have processed your transfer yet. In that case the next step is to file
second RTI to the target EPFO office.
File an RTI application for the Target EPFO and this time, along with all the details also
mention about the first RTI and the response you have got from the Source, so that you
show them all the proof of what you have done. Now you should get a reply from them again
within next 30 days on what is their action and what is the exact status of your EPF transfer.
Online RTI Filing (For NRIs or lazy Resident Indians)
For those who are too busy to visit Post office and do RTI filing offline. You can use the
services of www.rtination.com for filing the RTI. They will help you create the RTI letter and
then you need to download it, sign it, scan it and send it back to them by courier or ordinary
post. They would speed post it to the concerned officer and also enclose the fee. At the
moment the fees is Rs 150.
Important Points while Filing RTI application
When you file an RTI application, there are some very important points you should
remember, because incase you dont take care of some very critical points, it would mean
rejection of your application and unnecessary work again. Here are some important points:
Do not address your RTI application to the PIO by his name, just in case he gets transferred
or a new PIO is designated in his place, it will be an issue. However addressing the Officer by
name has its own advantage like when it reaches his desk, by seeing his name, he might see
more interest in opening it and that might mean speedy work. However in my opinion, better
not put the exact name of the person.
Before filing the RTI, see if checking the status online helps here
The matter can be hand written, or typed. There is no compulsion of typing the content.
Be very specific while asking the questions, dont ask unimportant or unnecessary questions,
because some states like Karanataka have limits on the number of words in the RTI
application (150 incase of Karnataka)
Check the exact fees for RTI application for the state where you are sending it. Because it can
be different from states to states. Like incase of Haryana, its Rs 50, not Rs 10.


http://www.jagoinvestor.com/2012/03/rti-for-epf-withdrawal-or-transfer.html


Employees' Provident Fund Organisation,
Regional Office
#13, 'Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road',
Bangalore-560025.
Public Relation Officer: 22279130
Fax:22244161
e-mail: sro.bangalore@epfindia.gov.in

Employees' Provident Fund Organisation,
Regional Office,
S1-F,First Cross,,
First Stage, Peenya,
Bangalore-560058.
Public Relation Officer: 23721366
Fax:28374424
e-mail: sro.peenya@epfindia.gov.in

Employees' Provident Fund Organisation,
Sub Regional Office,
No. 36 Opp. Syndicate Bank,
K.R.Puram,
Bangalore-560036.
Public Relation Oficer: 25613382
Fax:25610209
e-mail: epfokrpbgrl@gmail.com