The General Provident Fund (Kerala) constituted with effect from 1-4-1964 as per rules  issued  under  Notification No.39645/CR/62Fin. dated 26th December,1963.The Rules have been revised with effect from 1-4-2011.

The Accountant General (A&E) maintains the individual GPF accounts of nearly

3.9 Lakh employees of the Kerala State Government, High Court Judges and All India Service Officials working in Kerala as per the rules and procedures contained in the GPF (K) Rules 2011 and AIS (PF) Rules 1955 respectively.

The State Government has introduced Provident Fund Scheme for the Part Time Contingent Employees (KPTCE PF) with effect from 17.03.2005; the maintenance of the fund is entrusted with the Accountant General (A&E). Admission to the Fund started in November 2007.

The Provident Fund Group in the Office is headed by an IA & AS Officer in the rank of Deputy Accountant General.

Constitution of the Fund

The GPF for full-time employees is constituted with effect from 1st April 2011.The GPF for Part-time contingent employees (KPTCEPF) is constituted with effect from 17.03.2005.

The Funds are maintained in Indian Rupees.

Conditions for Eligibility

The following categories of staff of the Govt. of Kerala are eligible to join the Fund:  All permanent employees of any pensionable service

•  All probationers in any service who will be made full members of the service on due completion of their period of probation.
•  All temporary, acting and officiating members of any service on completion of one year’s service.
•  All part-time contingent employees of any service on completion of one year’s service.

Temporary, acting and officiating members who have not completed one year’s service can also be admitted to the Fund if they apply for it in writing.

Nominations

A subscriber has to file a nomination in the prescribed form at the time of joining the Fund. If the subscriber has a family at the time of filing the nomination, the nomination cannot be in favour of any person(s) other than the member(s) of his family. The nomination made by a subscriber who is not married shall become invalid on the event of getting married. If a subscriber nominates more than one person, he has to specify in the nomination the amount of share payable to each of the nominees in such a manner as to cover the whole of the amount that may stand to his credit in the Fund at any time. The responsibility of scrutiny, acceptance and safe custody of the nominations filed by Non-Gazetted Officers vests with Head of Office and ensure that the details are noted in the Service

Book/E-Service Book of the subscriber. whereas the nominations of Gazetted subscribers are kept by the Accountant General. In the case of the promotees from Non-Gazetted service, Heads of Offices have to transfer the nomination to the Accountant General only on their substantive promotion to Gazetted cadre. A subscriber can cancel a nomination by sending a notice in writing to the Head of Office/Accountant General along with a fresh nomination.

Admission to the GPF

The Head of Office has to send a digitally signed copy of application showing particulars of Government servants as in the Revised Application Form prescribed in Govt.Circular No.21/2007/Fin dated 28.03.2007 (Form available in the site under downloads) to the Accountant General (A&E) through the online admission module available in the state HR application (SPARK) for admission to the Fund. The GPF account number is allotted to each subscriber by the Accountant General with a ‘Prefix’ indicating the department of the subscriber in the case of full-time employees. The Account Number once allotted will be operative till quitting service despite change of Department/District.

In the case of part-time Contingent Employees, the prefix will be "CNT" with no Department prefix.

The receipt of Applications for Admission to GPF and allotment of account numbers have been centralised. Therefore, all applications for admission to GPF and allotment of account numbers are to be forwarded to the Office of the Accountant General (A&E), Kerala, MG Road, Thiruvananthapuram 695001.

The Drawing and Disbursing Officers in the State Government prepare the staff pay bills along with GPF recovery schedules in respect of the subscribers to the Fund under their payment control and submit the same to the Treasury Officers for payment. After making payment the Treasury Officer digitally forward the vouchers to the Accountant General. The Accountant General posts the remittances/withdrawals into the account of the subscribers concerned digitally through online data posting.

The account maintained in respect of a subscriber shows the particulars of subscriptions, refunds, dearness allowance and pay revision arrears credited to the Fund, interest allowed and withdrawals made there during the year.

Rate of Subscription

The amount of subscription is fixed by the subscriber himself. However, it cannot be less than 6% of the basic pay and not more than the basic pay in the case of full-time employees and it can not be less than 3% of the emoluments and not more than the emoluments in the case of part-time contingent employees. The minimum subscription is determined on the basic pay drawn on 31st March of the preceding financial year. The rate of subscription can be reduced once and enhanced twice during the course of a financial year.

Conditions for Subscription

The subscriber shall subscribe monthly to the Fund, except during: 

• Period of suspension.
• Last three months of service before retirement. 
• Leave that does not carry any leave salary.
•  After submitting application for closure

A subscriber on reinstatement after a period of suspension is allowed to pay in lump or in installments any sum not exceeding the maximum amount of arrear subscriptions permissible for that period. A subscriber may at his option choose not to subscribe during leave without allowances or leave on half-pay. A subscriber may stop subscribing to the Fund at any time during the last one year of service immediately preceding the date of his retirement.

Interest on the Fund

Interest at such rate as prescribed from time to time by the Government of India and adopted by Government of Kerala is credited to the subscribers’ account on the last day of every financial year.

The revised rate of interest for the Quarter July to September 2024 is 7.1%.

Eligibility of Interest for the Chalan Remittance

As per rule 13(3) of GPF (K) rules 2011, if the subscriber is remitted the subscription amount in the treasury before the 5^th day of the month, the date of the deposit will be deemed to be the 1^st day of the month of remittance, but if it is remitted on or after the 5th day of that month, then the date of deposit will be deemed to be the 1^st day of the next month.

Advances from the Fund

I.  Temporary Advance

A temporary advance is granted to a subscriber from the amount standing to his credit in the Fund by the departmental officers for specified purposes. The advance can be drawn to the extent of the monetary limits prescribed in the delegation of financial powers of the respective departments subject to a maximum of 75% of the balance at credit or (3a-b)/4 (a = balance at credit, b = amount of consolidated advance outstanding) whichever is less. In the case of part-time contingent employees, it shall not be in excess of 16 months' pay or half the amount at credit of the subscriber in the fund, whichever is less. The sanctions for temporary advances are noted in the subscribers’ accounts.

Conditions for Sanction of Temporary Advance

•  At least a gap of six months between the drawal of two temporary advances 
•  At least four months gap between a temporary advance and non-refundable advance taken for the same purpose
•  Not to be sanctioned during the last three months of service.
•  Not to be sanctioned in the month in which the subscriber proceeds on leave preparatory to retirement.
•  Not to be sanctioned after a subscriber elects not to subscribe to the Fund.
•  Not to be sanctioned during leave without allowances if he is not subscribing to the Fund during that period.

Recovery of Temporary Advance

•  The advances are recoverable from the subscriber in such number of equal monthly installments as the sanctioning authority may direct, but such number shall not be less than 12 unless the subscriber so elects or not more than     36. In the case of part-time contingent employees, the number of installments in normal cases shall not be less than 15 unless the subscriber so elects for not more than 30.
•  When there is an advance running and a second advance is sanctioned, the balance of the previous advance not recovered shall be added to the advance so sanctioned and the subsequent installments for recovery of advances shall be fixed with reference to the consolidated amount.
•  The recovery shall commence with the issue of pay for the month following the month in which the advance was drawn.
• A subscriber may at his option repay two or more instalments in a month.

II.    Non-Refundable Advance

The Head of the Department is competent to sanction non-refundable advance up to 75% of the balance at credit. The quantum of NRA that can be sanctioned by various other administrative authorities is specified in the relevant delegation of financial powers of the respective departments.

The Drawing and Disbursing Officer of the subscriber having PEN shall forward the application for NRA through the online module provided in the state HR application (SPARK).

Non-Refundable Advance is to be applied in Form G

Conditions for Sanction of Non-Refundable Advances

• It may be sanctioned at any time for specified purposes after completion of 10 years of service (including broken periods of service, leave without allowances (LWA), suspension, military and war service which are reckoned for        the purpose of pension, pensionable service under Government of India/other State Governments/aided educational institutions if the PF deposits and interest thereon during the service have been transferred and credited to the      Fund) or within 10 years of the date of retirement.
•  It may not be sanctioned (i) during the last three months of service (ii) after exercising option under Rule 7(d) which permits the subscriber to close the account before retirement (iii) after submitting the closure application
•  When another withdrawal is sanctioned for the purpose of treatment of the same person within a period of six months of the previous withdrawal, it should be specified in the sanction that the treatment is for the illness on a   different occasion.
• Advances for education can be permitted for each year for different children.
• When both husband and wife are subscribers to the Fund, withdrawal can be made for the education, marriage of the same child by both.
• When an advance for marriage is sanctioned, the date of marriage is to be specified. (Amount cannot be drawn before three months of the date of marriage).
• Advance for marriage can be allowed for a second or subsequent marriage of son/daughter.
• Advance is allowed for the marriage of a female relative dependent of the subscriber if he has no daughter.
• Advance for construction of house even permitted for repayment of loan taken for house building from Co-operative Societies or similar agencies.
• NRA admissible for various purposes from the Fund may also be snctioned to a subscriber who is under suspension provided he is otherwise eligible for such withdrawal.
• Temporary Advance can be converted to non-refundable advance after at least 2 recoveries from the advance and this will be treated as non-refundable advance. Subject to the condition that another NRA/TA should not be     granted for the same purpose within a period of six/four months from the date of authorization of the conversion.
• The sanction for a temporary advance or non-refundable advance will remain operative for a period of three months only and shall be deemed to have lapsed thereafter unless specifically renewed.

NRA to Employees on Deputation/Foreign Service Sanction -

Gazetted Officers and Non-Gazetted Officers

By the competent authority of the office in which he was attached at the time of proceeding on foreign service/deputation

FINAL WITHDRAWAL (CLOSURE)

• Final withdrawal of accumulation in the Fund is permitted when subscriber quits the service (on retirement, dismissal, resignation, compulsory retirement, removal etc.).
• In case of death while in service.

How to Apply for Closure

• Online application for GPF closure has to be submitted through State HR application (SPARK)
•  The DDO of the subscriber having PEN shall forward the application through the online module provided in the SPARK along with required document.
• The application duly filled in and signed by the subscriber/claimant(s) is to be submitted through state HR application to the department for forwarding the same with digital signature to the Accountant General along with requisite documents by the Head of Office.

Conditions for Closure

• Subscription and refund shall be discontinued during the last three months of service
• A subscriber may at any time during the last one year of service opt to close the account by giving option under Rule 7(d), i.e., after stopping subscription.

Manner of Payment

The Accounts Officer closes the account after verifying the ledger accounts and

issue an authority for payment of the amount. Digitally signed authorizations are forwarded to the Drawing and Disbursing Officers concerned which are available through online state HR application(SPARK). The Fund accumulation payable to the subscriber shall be paid to the person(s) on whom the right to receive the amount is conferred by means of a nomination as per rules, if the said subscriber has passed away while in service or before receiving the fund accumulation after retirement. If the subscriber dies while in service and where there is no nomination, the amount will be paid to the eligible family members on the basis of Departmental Enquiry Certificate in equal shares.

• GPF (K) Rules do not permit payment of interest beyond the date of authorization by the Accountant General.
• Interest is allowed upto the end of the month previous to the month in which authorization for payment of PF balance is issued, if the closure application is received by the Department/Accountant General within a period of one year. If the application is not submitted within one year of quitting service/death, interest is admissible only upto a period of one year from the crucial date necessitating the closure of the account.
• As per Government of Kerala Circular No.29/87/Fin. dated 24-4-1987, arrears of dearness allowance shall not be deposited to the Fund of a subscriber who had opted not to subscribe to the Fund Such deposits if any will be treated as unauthorized and no interest will be allowed.

Annual Accounts Statement

 After the close of each financial year, the Annual Accounts Statements of subscribers are uploaded on the AG’s portal (KSEMP) showing the opening balance as on the 1st April of the year, the total amount deposited and withdrawn during the year, amount of interest credited as on 31st March of the financial year and the closing balance on 31^st March of the financial year. Subscribers have to satisfy themselves as to the correctness of the Credit Cards and errors should be brought to the notice of the Accountant General within three months of receipt of

the same.

Missing Credits

At times, schedules/vouchers are not received from the Treasuries for various reasons and as a result some of the subscriptions/refunds/arrears/withdrawals do not get posted in the account. These missing credits/debits can be located and included in the subscriber’s account after proper verification of the accounts rendered to this Office by the drawing and disbursing officers/treasuries subject to furnishing the following details duly certified by the Drawing and Disbursing Officers in the case of Non-Gazetted subscribers and by the Treasury Officers in the case of Gazetted subscribers.

• Name of the Subscriber
• GPF Account number
• Name of the DDO under whom serving
• Amount of subscription/refund/withdrawal
• Salary month for which details are being furnished
• Head of Account (up to Detailed Head) under which salary was drawn
• Treasury/Sub Treasury where the salary was drawn
• Treasury voucher number/challan number, net and gross of the salary bill
• Totals of the schedule amount enclosed in the particular voucher as noted on the abstract in case of credit.
• Date of payment of the voucher/remittance of the amount in the case of challan remittance
• Total amount of the GPF payment voucher (in the case of advances)
• The queries regarding missing credit may be forwarded to pfedpmc.ker.ae@cag.gov.in.

General Provident Fund Help Desk

General Provident Fund Help Desk - has been opened in the Office of the Accountant General (A&E), Thiruvananthapuram, to attend to the grievances of the subscribers. The difficulties of the subscribers are attended to on priority basis by the officials at the Help Desk. The subscribers are free to contact the Help Desk on all working days from 10.00 AM to 1 PM and 2.00 PM to 5.00 PM. Subscribers may contact the Reception to approach the Help Desk.

Enquiries on GPF matters can also be made by calling in

0471-2776650, 0471-2330311

All enquires relating to GPF may be addressed to:

The Senior Accounts Officer, GPF Help-Desk’

Office of the Accountant General (A&E),

Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram – 695 001