Hi Gourav,
Any person employed directly or through a contractor in an establishment or in connection with the work of the establishment would also be termed as the ‘employee’ of that particular establishment as per Section 2(f) of the EPF & MP Act, 1952.
It is needless to reiterate that all the above contract employees would need to be enrolled under the PF Code Number of the establishment.
In case if such contract employees are enrolled under a separate PF code No. of the contractor, it is the principal employer’s duty to ensure that contributions at the prescribed rates are deducted and remitted by the contractor in respect of the said contract employees failing which, being the principal employer, the establishment will held liable for the payment of such contributions also.
The below are the detailed explanations on the same as per the legal provisions.
Para 30. Payment of Contribution:
1. The employer shall, in the first instance, pay both the contribution payable by himself (in this Scheme referred to as the employer’s contribution) and also, on behalf of the member employed by him directly or by or through a contractor, the contribution payable by such member (in the Scheme referred to as the member’s contribution).
2. In respect of employees employed by or through a contractor, the contractor shall recover the contribution payable by such employee (in this Scheme referred to as the member’s contribution) and shall pay to the principal employer the amount of member’s contribution so deducted together with an equal amount of contribution (in this Scheme referred to as the employer’s contribution) and also administrative charges.
3. It shall be the responsibility of the principal employer to pay both the contribution payable by himself in respect of the employees directly employed by him and also in respect of the employees employed by or through a contractor and also administrative charges.[Explanation – For the purpose of this paragraph the expression “administrative charges” means such percentage of the pay (basic wages, dearness allowance, retaining allowance, if any, and cash value of food concessions admissible thereon) for the time being payable to the employees other than an excluded employee, and in respect of which provident fund contributions are payable as the Central Government may, in consultation with the Central Board and having regard to the resources of the Fund for meeting its normal administrative expenses, fix]
Para 36-B. Duties of Contractors. :
Every contractor shall, within seven days of the close of every month, submit to the principal employer a statement showing the recoveries of contributions in respect of employees employed by or through him and shall also furnish to him such information as the principal employer is required to furnish under the provisions of the Scheme to the Commissioner.
Hope, the above information suffices the need.
Thanks & Regards,
Dikshit T G S.