Code on Social Security, 2020
(1) When the Authorised Officer or the competent authority, as the case may be, issues a certificate to a Recovery Officer under section 129, it shall not be open to the employer to dispute before the Recovery Officer the correctness of the amount, and no objection to the certificate on any other ground shall be entertained by the Recovery Officer. (2) Notwithstanding the issue of a certificate to a Recovery Officer, the Authorised Officer or the competent authority, as the case may be, shall have power to withdraw the certificate or correct any clerical or arithmetical mistake in the certificate by sending intimation to the Recovery Officer. (3) The Authorised Officer or the competent authority, as the case may be, shall intimate to the Recovery Officer any orders of withdrawing or cancelling a certificate or any correction made by him in respect of the said certificate under sub-section (2). (4) Notwithstanding that a certificate has been issued to the Recovery Officer for the recovery of any amount, the Authorised Officer or the competent authority, as the case may be, may grant time to the employer for payment of the amount recoverable under the certificate and thereupon the Recovery Officer shall stay the proceedings until the expiry of the time so granted. (5) Where a certificate for the recovery of amount has been issued, the Authorised Officer or the competent authority, as the case may be, shall keep the Recovery Officer informed of any amount paid or time granted for payment, subsequent to the issue of such certificate. (6) Where the order giving rise to a demand of amount for which a certificate for recovery has been issued under section 129 has been modified in appeal or other proceeding under this Code, resulting in reduction of the demand but the order is the subject matter of further proceeding under this Code, the Authorised Officer or the competent authority, as the case may be, shall stay the recovery of such part of the amount of the certificate as pertains to the said reduction for the period for which the appeal or other proceeding remains pending. (7) Where a certificate for the recovery of amount has been issued and subsequently the amount of the outstanding demand is reduced as a result of an appeal or other proceeding under this Code, the Authorised Officer or the competent authority, as the case may be, shall, when the order being the subject matter of such appeal or other proceeding becomes final and conclusive, amend the certificate or withdraw it, as the case may be in consonance with such finality or conclusion. 131. other modes of recovery.— (1) Notwithstanding the issue of a certificate to the Recovery Officer under section 129, the Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation so authorised by it in this behalf, may, recover the amount by any one or more of the modes provided in this section. (2) If any amount is due from any person to any employer who is in arrears, the Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf, may, require such person to deduct from the said amount the arrears so due, and such person shall comply with any such requisition and shall pay the sum so deducted to the credit of the Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation so authorised by it in this behalf: Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any part of the amount exempt from attachment in execution of a decree of a civil court under section 60 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908). (3) (a) The Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf may, at any time or from time to time, by notice in writing, require any person from whom money is due or may become due to the employer or, as the case may be, the establishment or any person who holds or may subsequently hold money for or on account of the employer or, as the case may be, the establishment, to pay to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer authorised by it in this behalf either forthwith upon the money becoming due or being held at or within the time specified in the notice (not being before the money becomes due or is held) so much of the money as is sufficient to pay the amount due from the employer in respect of arrears or the whole of the money when it is equal to or less than that amount. (b) A notice under this sub-section may be issued to any person who holds or may subsequently hold any money for or on account of the employer jointly with any other person and for the purposes of this sub-section, the shares of the joint holders in such account shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to be equal. (c) A copy of the notice shall be forwarded to the employer at his last address known to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf and in the case of a joint account to all the joint holders at their last addresses so known. (d) Save as otherwise provided in this sub-section, every person to whom a notice is issued under this sub-section shall be bound to comply with such notice, and, in particular, where any such notice is issued to a post office, bank or an insurer, it shall not be necessary for any pass book, deposit receipt, policy or any other document to be produced for the purpose of any entry, endorsement or the like being made before payment is made notwithstanding any rule, practice or requirement to the contrary. (e) Any claim respecting any property in relation to which a notice under this sub-section has been issued arising after the date of the notice shall be void as against any demand contained in the notice. (f) Where a person to whom a notice under this sub-section is sent objects to it by statement on oath that the sum demanded or any part thereof is not due to the employer or that he does not hold any money for or on account of the employer, then, nothing contained in this sub-section shall be deemed to require such person to pay any such sum or part thereof, as the case may be, but if it is discovered that such statement was false in any material particular, such person shall be personally liable to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf, to the extent of his own liability to the employer on the date of the notice, or to the extent of the employer's liability for any sum due under this Code, whichever is less. (g) The Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf, may, at any time or from time to time, amend or revoke any notice issued under this sub-section or extend the time for making any payment in pursuance of such notice. (h) The Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf, shall grant a receipt for any amount paid in compliance with a notice issued under this sub-section, and the person so paying shall be fully discharged from his liability to the employer to the extent of the amount so paid. (i) Any person discharging any liability to the employer after the receipt of a notice under this sub-section shall be personally liable to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf, to the extent of his own liability to the employer so discharged or to the extent of the employer's liability for any sum due under this Code, whichever is less. (j) If the person to whom a notice under this sub-section is sent fails to make payment in pursuance thereof to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf, he shall be deemed to be an employer in default in respect of the amount specified in the notice and further proceeding may be moved against him for the realisation of the amount as if it were an arrear due from him, in the manner provided in sections 129 to 132 and the notice shall have the same effect as an attachment of amount in arrears by the Recovery Officer in exercise of his powers under section 129. (4) The Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf may apply to the court in whose custody there is money belonging to the employer for payment to him of the entire amount of such money, or if it is more than the amount due, an amount sufficient to discharge the amount due. (5) The Central Provident Fund Commissioner or the Director General of the Corporation, as the case may be, or any other officer of such Social Security Organisation authorised by it in this behalf, if so authorised by the Central Government by general or special order, recover any arrears of amount due from an employer or, as the case may be, from the establishment by distraint and sale of his or its movable property in the manner laid down in the Third Schedule to the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961).