New Delhi (NVI): In a relief for employers, who were finding it difficult to use digital or Aadhaar based e-Sign for EPF compliance amid the lockdown, retirement fund body EPFO today said that it has introduced an email mechanism to obtain e-sign.
“In the current scenario of lockdown announced by the Government to control the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and other disruptions, the employers are not able to function normally and are facing problems in using their digital signatures or Aadhaar based e-sign on EPFO portal,” the Ministry of Labour & Employment said in a statement.
Due to the ongoing lockdown, many important tasks like KYC attestation, transfer claim attestation, etc are being done online by the authorised persons of employers using their Digital Signatures (DSC) or Aadhar based e-Signs on EPFO portal, the Ministry said.
“For using DSC/e-Sign, one time approval from Regional Offices is required. Due to lockdown, many employers are facing difficulties to send the one time registration requests to the Regional Offices,” the Ministry said in a statement.
Taking cognizance of the problems faced by employers and further ease the compliance procedure, EPFO has decided to accept such requests through email also. An employer can send the scanned copy of duly signed request letter to the concerned Regional Office through mail, the ministry said.
Further, such establishments, whose authorized officers have approved digital signatures but are not able to locate the dongle, can login to the employer portal and register their e-sign through the link for registration of already registered authorized signatories, it said.
If their name against the approved digital signature is same as that in their Aadhar, the registration of e-sign will not require any further approval. Other authorized signatories can register their e-signs and send the request letters approved by the employers and seek approval of the concerned EPFO Offices, the Labour Ministry said.
