Dear Mr.Abbas,
There is no provision in the EPF act, but I have handled a case in year 2000 when one employee migrated to US and requested me to arrange for a withdrawal of the amount.
We applied to EPFO in Ambattur alongwith the job offer received by the employee, passport and flight tickets as proof. The claim was processed and withdrawal benefit was given though the employee was in service for almost 15 years in the company.
Experts framing acts and rules will not foresee all probable causes and will state the broad guidelines and we professionals will have to see the reasoning behind the claim made by the employee, if it genuine and is likely to benefit the employee then it can be pursued. (Numerous case laws for each sections of the act arise to clarify the position based on nature of each case)
Though the other case I am going to cite is not relevant to the present case I wish to state that for better clarity.
We had a Personal accident policy coverage for employees wherein the premium is computed based on the earning capacity of the employees (subject to ceiling based on company policy). Once an employee met suffered a head injury while travelling in a two wheeler (PA policy covers 24 hours worldwide). The employee suffered from Short Term Memory loss which will mean he cannot be employed in any establishment, but the doctors certified that he was 80% disabled and as per provisions of the policy the company agreed to pay 80% of the sum assured. But we argued the case that stating that the premium is computed based on the earning capacity and that the employee has infact lost 100% earning capacity and sought the balance 20%. Though it was a long drawn process finally we succeeded in winning the case. So it more the logic than the law before hand.
I trust you will agree with me.
M.V.KANNAN