Claim settlement on FIFO Basis?
I submitted PF advance claim under special circumstances category on 3rd July 08:32 AM amount being less than Rs.5 lacs with 100% KYC Compliant profile and multiple claims have been settled in past which means PF department has everything that they need in their records and systems for my claim processing and settlement.
Even on 20th July, the status is still showing as 'Claim Submitted at Portal' and today I have received response from regional PF officer from Mumbai (Bandra) office on CPGRAMS Portal saying that 'Claim has been received and will be settled on 'FIRST IN FIRST OUT' Basis within stipulated time.
I have two questions.
If EPFO is really following FIFO method for claim processing and settlement and 3rd July was the first day of resumption of EPFO services after the week-long shut down for technology upgrade, how is it possible that my claim is not even moving to any further stage and still stuck at Claim Submitted at Portal stage!? Are they still processing claims submitted before system shut down? And so many people have posted on Reddit that they have got their claims settled which were submitted after my claim! Some people have posted screenshots displaying 2 claims settled!
The widespread update of 3-day settlement seems to be a misleading campaign, do we still have 20 working days as the stipulated timeline for claim settlement?