Nonpayment Of ESI Contribution

Hi all,
I am working as an HR manager for a construction company. I am new to this field and joined this company just 2 months back. There was no HR person before me, so most of the work related to ESI and PF was done through a consultancy firm. The company was enrolled for ESI/PF in October 2011. Just a few days back, we got a nonpayment of contribution for the month of September 2011 and delayed payment receipt for October 2011 to May 2012. The company has been remitting the contribution on time. When I called and asked the consultancy firm why we got a delayed payment receipt, they said the company was registered in January, but we have to pay from October. I did not understand anything. Kindly tell me how the procedure works.
Regards,
Mimosa

Hi,
Hope, you aware, Registration will be done under the EPF / ESIC at the time of crossing the eligible number of employees (20 or more) in any establishment. As you said, your establishment was registered in the month of Oct'11, you just verify the number of eligible employees and their "Date of Joining" as per the September attendance. If the eligible (20 numbers) employees were joined in the month of Sep'11 or before, then the contributions need to be paid for the month of Sep'11.
Regarding the delayed payment, this must be the fault of Consultant, you just pay the penalty and close it amicably. And ensure that henceforth, contributions should be paid before 21st of every month.

Thanks for the post. Spoke to the consultants. They said it was started in September, but procedures got delayed, so we have to pay fine. Anyways, like you said, we will have to pay penalty.
Regards,
Mimosa

Dear Sir,
There are two different issues, one is related to EPF and other related to ESI. You have to deal separately each case being related to EPFO and ESI resp.. You have to first check up the Coverage Letter issued by these Authorities wherein date of coverage must have been shown. If the date is October, then they can not ask for payment and penalty for September until and unless they shift back the date of coverage.
For this, they will have to give you opportunity to hear your views before shifting the date.
For any further query, kindly contact me.
A K CHANDOK
RPFC (Retd.)
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