 the employees' provident funds (amendment) bill, 1960(as introduced in lok sabha on 9111 september, 1960)  bill, 1960 (as intitobvci'aun lok sabha~a bill further to amend the employees' providem funds act, 1952 be it enacted by parliament in the eleventh year of the republic of india as follows:-1 (1) 'ntis act may be cal1ed the employees' providel'lt funds short titji 5 (amendment) act, 1960 and commencemeqt (2) it shall come into force- on such date as the central government may, by notification in the oftlcial gazette, appoint 19 of 1953 z in section 1 of the emp!oy,ees' pr-ovig€nt fund~ act, 1952 amendmeqt (hereinafter referred to as the principal act) ,_ of aectioq 1 10 (i) in sub  section (3), for the word "fifty", wherever it occurs, the word "twenty" hill be substituted; (ii) after sub-section (4), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-"(5) an etablishment to which this act applies shall is continue to be governed by this act notwithstanding that the nurnbw- of persqlls employed therein at any time falls below twenty: provi~d that where fof acontinuaus period of not less than ane year the number of persons employed therein has 20 been less,than fifteen, the employer in relation to such establishmmt m~y cea$e to give effect to the provisions of this act and any ~iue framed thereunder, with effect from the beginning of the month following the expiry of the said period of one year, but he shall, within one month of the date of such cessation, intimate, by registered post, the fact thereof to such authority as may be specified by the appropriate government in this behalf ~ lmertion of uew acc:tion aa 3 after section 2 of the principal act, the· following section shall be inserted, namely:-bstablishmentto include all departments and branches "2a for the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that where an establishment consists of different departments or has branches, whether situate in the same place or in different places, it<> all such departments or branches shall be· treated as parts of the same establishment" 4 in section 6 of the principal act,-amendmt>nt r section 6 (i) in sub-section (1), for t~e words "and the dearness allowance" and for the words "and dearness allowance", the is words and brackets "dearness allowance and retaining allowance (if any)" shall be substituted; (ii) the existing explanation shall be re-numbered as explanation 1, and after explanation 1 as so re-numbered, the following expzanation shall be inserted, namely: -20 - explanqtion 2-for the purposes of this sub-section, "retaining allowance" means an allowance payable for the time being to an employee of any factory or other establishment during any period in which the establishment is not  working, for retaining his services' 25 amendment 5 in section 16 of the principal act, for sub-section (1), the foleflectioq 16 lqwing sub-section shall be substituted, namely:-"(1) this act shall not apply-(a) to any establishment ifegistered under the co-operative societies act, 1912, or under any other law for the 30 ~ of 19~o time being in force in any state relating to co-operative societies, employing less than fifty persons and working without the aid of power; or (b) to any other establishment employing fifty or more persons or twenty or more, but less than fifty, persons until 35 the expiry of three years in the case of the former and five years in the case of the latter, from the date on which the establishment is, or has been, set up erplanation-for the removal of doubts, it is hereby deelared that an establishment shall not be deemed to be newly set up merely by reason of a change in its location" 6 in section 19a of the principal act-amendment gf aec:tioa 19a 5 (i) clause (ia) shall be re-numbered as clause (ii) thereof; (ii) after clause (ii) as so ire-numbered, for the e,xisting clauses (ii) and (iii), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:-•• (iii) the number of p~rsons employed in an estaollsn-10 ment; or (iv) the number of years which have elapsed from the date on which an establishment has been set up; or"; (iii) the existing clause (iv) shall be re-numbered as clause (v)  statement of objects and reasonsthe employees' provident funds act, 1952, which initially applied to ~lix industries at present applies to 43 industries and establishments and provides the benefit of compulsory contributory provident fund to over 26 lakhs of wot"k~rs in su-eh industries and establishments but as the act is appucableonly to establishments employing 50 or more persons, it has not been possible to mend its benefit to employees in establishments employing less than 50 persons there has been a persistent demand for reduction of the coverage limit to 20 or more persons it is accordingly proposed to reduce the limit of 50 or more to 20 or more pe!rsohs this will considerably widen the scope of the aet 2 in order to ensure that the establishments once covered under the act do not go out of the purview of the act merely due to a small reductiop in their strength, provision is being made that an establishment once covered under the act will continue to be so covered despite a reduction in the employment strength, except where the employment strength is reduced to less than 15 and remains so far a period of one year continuously 3 it has also been represented that the "retaining allowance" paid to employees in sugar factories durin~ off season is in the nature of wages it is proposed to make this allowance liable for provident fund contributions in the case of sugar factories and other seasonal establishments to which this act applies 4 it is also proposed to exclude registered co-operative societies employing less than 50 persons and working without the aid of power 5 it is further proposed to grant initial exemption to small-scale and cottage industries employing between 20 and 50 persons for a period of five years the bill seeks to achieve these objects  - , -gulzarilal nanda  new di:lm; the 3rd september, 1960 this am seeks to brittg establiabinertts em:ployl~10 m'mbre persons within the purview of the empl<>1ets' provident fund~ act, 1952, and the scheme framed thereunder the act and the scheme are already applicable to establishments belonging to government and employing 50 or more persons such establishments employing 20 or l'nore pet8{ms, if any, will now come within the purview'of ·the act most of the establishments belonging to the central government have provimllt funds of their own therefon!,th~ il no likelihbod of any additional expenditure beingiftethted ·from the consolidated fund of india in respect of <»ntrib\ttidll8'to ·theprovi<lent fund but some expenditure would be involved from the consolidated fund of india by way of administrative and in-sp~tioh ~harges, which are 3 per cent and 3/4 per cent respectively, of the tdt~l of employers' ahd employees' coritributions it is hot, 'httw~, pdssible to estimate this amount  annexureextracts from the employees' provident funds act, 1952 (no 19 of 1952) - - - - 1 - - - - - short title, extent and application (3) subject to the provisions contained in section 16, it applies-(a) to every establishment which is a factory engaged in any industry specified in schedule i and in which fifty or more persons are employed, and-(b) to any other establishment employing fifty or more persons or class of such establishments which the central government may, by notjfication in the official gazette, specify in this behalf: provided that the central government may, after giving not less than two months' notice of its intention so to do, by notification in the official gazette, apply the provisions of this act to any establishment employinr, such number _of persons less than fifty as may be specified in the notification - - - - - contributions and matters which may be provid  d for in schemes 6 (1) the contribution which shall be paid by the employer to the fund shah be six and a quarter per cent of the basic wages and the dearness allowance for the time being payable to each of the employees, and the employees' contribution shall be equal to the contribution payable by the employer in respect of him and may, if any employee so desires and if the scheme makes provision therefor, be an amount not exceeding eight and one-third per cent of his basic wages and dearness allowance: provided that where the amount of any contribution payable under this act involves a fraction of a rupee, the scheme may provide for the rounding off of such fraction to the nearest rupee, half of a rupee or :quarter of a rupee explanation-for the purposes of this sub-section, dearness allowance shall be deemed to include also the cash value of any food concession allowed to the employee - - - - - 16 (1) this act shall not apply to any est8lblishment until the act ~ot to expiry of three years from the date on which the establishment is r~ant to or has been set up establish-- , menta explanation-for the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that an establishment shall not be deemed to be newly set up merely by reason of a change in its location difficulties  (2) 1£ the central government is of opinion that having regard to the financial position of any class of establishments or other circumstances of the case, it is necessary or expedient so to do, it may, by notification in the official gazette, and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the notification, exempt that class of establishments from the operation of this act for such period as may be specified in the notification  - - - - - 19a - - - - (ii) whether fifty or more persons are employed in an establishment; or (iii) whether three years have elapsed frem the establishment of an establishment; or - - - - - a bill further to amend the employees' provident funds act, 1952 (shri gulzarilal nanda, mmisler of labour and employment) 