BBC Urdu Service: No clue of provident fund for last 5 years. BBC Urdu stands in violation of Pakistani laws. Employees in Pakistan show concern that the management may be allegedly involved in irregularities/misappropriations in the funds. BBC Urdu Service stands in violation of Pakistan laws which require the employer to inform its workers about the status of their provident fund, but unlike India BBC employees in Pakistan have no clue about the status of their provident fund for last 5 years. The fund was established in August 2009 when BBC Pakistan came into being. Questions raised over its status were not satisfactorily answered, including in a meeting in 2012 in which a senior HR official, Heba Yousuf, was also present. The finance team committed in that meeting that they will provide the requisite information to the employees which has still not been done. In 2012, a board was also constituted with representatives of the management and the employees. According to Pakistani laws, information about the provident fund must be provided to the employees within 15 days of the constitution of the board. The section 227 (3) says “Where a trust has been created by a company with respect to any provident referred to in sub-section (2), the company shall be bound to collect the contributions of the employees concerned and pay such contributions as well as its own contributions, if any, to the trustees within fifteen days from the date of collection, and thereupon, the obligations laid on the company by that sub-section shall devolve on the trustees and shall be discharged by them instead of the company. But employees in Pakistan have no clue about their contribution and the total balance to date. Instead of informing employees about the status of their provident fund, BBC management intentionally avoided to convene the meeting despite repeated requests by representative of the employees until June 2013 when he was forcibly terminated. The status of the trust is unclear since then. Some of the employees repeatedly sought information about the status of provident fund but BBC management did not reply. The section 228 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984 says: “Any person depositing any money or security or making any contribution under section 227 shall be entitled, on request made in this behalf to the company or the person concerned or to the trustees referred to in sub-section (3) of section 227, as the case may, be, to see the receipt of the bank or other body for any such money, deposit or security as is referred to in that section.” . The BBC Urdu Service Pakistan has been deducting a certain amount of money from the salaries of the employees for last four years under the head of provident fund, but they are not aware where this money is being kept or deposited. The section 227 (1) of the Companies Ordinance 1984 says “All the money or securities deposited with a company by its employees in pursuance of their contracts of service with the company shall be kept or deposited by the company within fifteen days from the date of deposit in a special account to be opened by the company for the purpose in a scheduled bank or in the National Saving Schemes, and no portion thereof shall be utilized by the company except for the breach of the contract of service on the part of the employee as provided in the contract and after notice to the employee concerned. . The section 227 (2) says “Where a provident fund has been constituted by a company for its employees or any class of its employees, all moneys contributed to such funds, whether by the company or by the employees, or received or accruing by way of interest, profit or otherwise from the date of contribution, receipt or accrual, as the case may be, shall either— (a) be deposited— (i) in a National Savings Scheme; (ii) in a special account to be opened by the company for the purpose in a scheduled bank; or (iii) where the company itself is a scheduled bank, in a special account to be opened by the company for the purpose either in itself or in any other scheduled bank; or ( b) be invested in Government securities; or 1[(c) in bonds, redeemable capital, debt securities or instruments issued by Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority and in listed securities subject to the conditions as may be prescribed by the Commission]. The section 227 (3) says “Where a trust has been created by a company with respect to any provident fund referred to in sub-section (2), the company shall be bound to collect the contributions of the employees concerned and pay such contributions as well as its own contributions, if any, to the trustees within fifteen days from the date of collection, and thereupon, the obligations laid on the company by that sub-section shall devolve on the trustees and shall be discharged by them instead of the company. BBC can be fined for violation of Pakistani law. The section 229 Companies Ordinance 1984 say” whoever contravenes or authorizes or permits the contravention of any of the provisions of section 226 or section 227 or section 228 shall be punished with a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees and shall also be liable to pay the loss suffered by the depositor of security or the employee on account of such contravention. There is concern among the employees in Pakistan that management of BBC Pakistan may have done irregularities/misappropriations in the funds contributed in Provident Fund, which is why, they believe, BBC avoids to inform the employees about the status of their provident fund. BBC Urdu section head, BBC Editor Pakistan, BBC News Editor and finance department have been covering up the issue with the connivance of HR manager Heba Yousaf.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 14:59:21 +0000