A performance review by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has uncovered serious lapses in the functioning of the Assam Tea Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (ATEPFO), revealing that thousands of tea estate workers remain outside the provident fund (PF) safety net and that settlement of pension and insurance claims continues to suffer from long delays.
The audit, which examined ATEPFO operations from 2017–18 to 2021–22, was recently presented in the Assam Assembly. The report points to deep systemic gaps in enrolment, poor deposit compliance by several tea estates and a backlog in processing PF-related claims all of which have resulted in workers being denied timely social security benefits.
According to the CAG, ATEPFO was created to provide PF, pension and insurance cover to employees of tea plantations and associated industries in the state. However, despite this mandate, the audit found that actual enrolment remains far below the eligible population. Against an estimated eligible workforce of 12.37 lakh, only 11.98 lakh workers had been registered. Of these, only 1,191 tea estates were registered under the system, and just 624 had fully enrolled their workers. 
This shortfall alone, the audit said, has kept nearly 39,120 eligible workers outside the benefits of PF and pension schemes as of March 2022.
The report also flagged significant financial lapses. As many as 334 tea estates had not deposited employees’ and employers’ PF contributions amounting to Rs 315.45 crore up to March 2022. In 83 percent of these estates, delays in deposit were found to have stretched “up to five years”, creating major gaps in workers’ PF accounts. These figures do not include tea gardens owned by the Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL), which has its own separate issues.
The audit further revealed that the total defaulted amount and statutory interest stood at Rs 419.07 crore, of which only Rs 32.43 crore just 8 percent had been deposited with ATEPFO until March 2022. This left an outstanding balance of Rs 386.64 crore.
ATEPFO informed auditors in October 2023 that ATCL had deposited its entire PF contribution and interest outstanding since 2005. Even then, the CAG report notes that settlement of claims remained slow throughout the review period.
The organisation processed 29,094 claims between 2017–18 and 2021–22, of which 96 percent were settled. However, delays persisted: only 10.39 percent of claims were processed within the stipulated period. Several beneficiaries faced failed transactions due to incorrect or inactive bank accounts, resulting in stalled payments.
A particularly troubling finding was that Rs 14.01 crore in claims including PF, pension, family pension and deposit-linked insurance dues could not be transferred to beneficiary accounts due to failed transactions. As of March 2022, these payments remained pending.
Out of all delayed cases, more than half (52 percent) related to claims filed in 2017–18 and 2018–19, indicating systemic issues that had remained unresolved for years.
The report also questioned investment decisions made by ATEPFO during the audit period, noting that some funds were placed in institutions that later turned financially unsound. This, the CAG observed, resulted in losses amounting to Rs 9.11 crore by September 2027.
