In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld that retired Railway employees who withdrew their provident fund accumulations cannot be treated as 'excluded employees' under the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952. To qualify as an excluded employee, a person must have been a member of the Fund created under the 1952 Scheme and withdrawn their full accumulations from that specific Fund. Since Railway employees were members of the General Provident Fund, not the EPF Scheme, their prior withdrawals do not exempt them. When re-employed, they must join the EPF Scheme unless their employer obtains a valid exemption under Section 17 of the Act based on equivalent benefits.
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