{"id":113789,"date":"2026-07-18T12:40:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=113789"},"modified":"2026-07-18T12:40:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:10:49","slug":"vishwas-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/vishwas-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Vishwas 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Vishwas 2026 Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Employees\u2019 Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) recently launched VISHWAS, 2026 to facilitate amicable settlement of disputes relating to levy of damages and penalty-related disputes.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Vishwas 2026<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was launched by the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/employees-provident-fund-organisation-epfo\/\" target=\"_blank\"><b>Employees\u2019 Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, under the Ministry of Labour &amp; Employment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>one-time dispute resolution initiative <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to facilitate amicable <\/span><b>settlement of disputes relating to levy of damages<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>penalty-related <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">disputes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scheme<\/span><b> provides employers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with an opportunity to<\/span><b> settle eligible cases<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through a <\/span><b>transparent, fully digital and time-bound process.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has been introduced with the objective of <\/span><b>promoting voluntary compliance, reducing litigation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and enabling <\/span><b>speedy resolution<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of long-pending disputes relating to penalty\/damages while safeguarding the interests of employees.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The VISHWAS scheme came into effect on June 29, 2026. It will remain<\/span><b> operational for six months<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the date of notification.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scheme will broadly <\/span><b>cover four categories of cases,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> including:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Cases where orders<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for penalty or damages are <\/span><b>under challenge before a judicial forum.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Final damages or penalty orders<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where <\/span><b>recovery is pending<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or only partly made, including Recovery Certificate (RRC) cases.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cases where <\/span><b>notices have been issued but final orders<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for damages or penalty are<\/span><b> yet to be passed.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cases where<\/span><b> notices for penalty<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or damages are<\/span><b> yet to be issued.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Exclusion:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cases where <\/span><b>damages or penalties<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have already been <\/span><b>fully recovered<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cases involving <\/span><b>fraud, misappropriation or deliberate falsification of records.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cases where the <\/span><b>applicable statutory interest has not been fully deposited.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eligible employers with pending disputes can <\/span><b>apply through the EPFO Employer Portal <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">using a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) or e-Sign.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Applicants must also furnish<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> an <\/span><b>undertaking <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that <\/span><b>no further appeal will be pursued<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in respect of the dispute settled under the scheme.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Benefits:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It enables eligible <\/span><b>employers to settle dispute<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s by offering <\/span><b>substantially reduced rates for historical defaults <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(prior to 14 June 2024), subject to payment of the applicable statutory interest and compliance with prescribed conditions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>For employers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the scheme presents a valuable<\/span><b> opportunity to regularise legacy EPF compliance issues<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at a significantly <\/span><b>lower financial cost.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the scheme is primarily directed at employers,<\/span><b> employees<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> stand to <\/span><b>benefit through quicker resolution<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of long-pending EPF disputes and<\/span><b> improved compliance by establishments.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News<\/b><strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/newsonair.gov.in\/epfo-launches-scheme-vishwas-to-amicable-settlement-of-damages-penalty-related-disputes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NOA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vishwas 2026 was launched by the Employees\u2019 Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to facilitate amicable settlement of disputes relating to levy of damages and penalty-related disputes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":113773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8772],"class_list":["post-113789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-vishwas-2026","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113789"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113811,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113789\/revisions\/113811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}