Is It Legal for Schools to Deduct P.F. from State-Paid Dearness Allowance? Seeking Advice on Missing Deposits

My wife is employed in a prominent school in India and has been working there for the last three years. Along with her salary, she receives a Dearness Allowance from the state government on a quarterly basis. The school deducts a certain amount as P.F. (Provident Fund) deduction from the Dearness Allowance, but the same is not deposited as per the records with the P.F. authorities.

My queries are:

1. Is it legal to deduct P.F. from the Dearness Allowance paid by the state government by the school authorities?

2. Since the P.F. being deducted is not being deposited, what recourse can an employee seek to address this anomaly?

3. Who is liable to pay for the loss of interest incurred by the employee due to the non-payment or late payment of the P.F. amount?

Which kind of school is it?

The management pays the salary, and once every three years, the government will pay the dearness allowance. Are you sure that it is not a government school or a government-aided school? Then who is paying the salary every month, and is it paid without the deduction of PF?

Government Deductions

Whatever is paid by the government should be after the deduction of PF, Income Tax, etc., and the management need not deduct anything before paying it to the employees.

Raising Concerns About PF Deductions

If you are sure that it is the PF that is deducted by the management and is not deposited on time, then you can raise it before the appropriate authority. In case of non-payment or delayed payment, the employee will not lose anything, and they will get interest as if it was paid. However, it will be the employer/management of the school who will have to bear the interest and damages.

I am not even clear if it is PF as per the Employees' Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act or some government Provident Fund.