Vinod Kumar Pande appointed as the Stipendiary Ombudsman

Chandigarh, November 24, 2016: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has been established by the Government of India for regulation and development of Pension Sector in order to protect the old age income security of subscribers. PFRDA takes various initiatives from time to time in order to simplify and improve the operational issues in National Pension System (NPS), simplification of account opening, withdrawal, grievance management etc. In this direction for putting in place a framework for timely and effective resolution of grievances, Shri Vinod Kumar Pande, has been appointed as the Stipendiary Ombudsman in terms of PFRDA (Redressal of Subscribers Grievance) Regulation 2015.

As per the grievance redressal policy every intermediary under the National Pension System and any other pension scheme regulated by the Authority have to follow the grievance redressal. The Stipendiary Ombudsman, under PFRDA (Redressal of Subscriber Grievance) Regulations, 2015, shall receive, consider and facilitate resolution of complaints or grievances which fall within the ambit of these regulations. The Ombudsman shall have the following powers and functions to-

(a) Receive complaints as specified in these regulations against any intermediary or entity and to consider such complaints and facilitate resolution thereof by amicable settlement

(b) Approve a friendly or amicable settlement of the dispute between the parties

(c) Adjudicate such complaints in the event of failure of settlement thereof by friendly or amicable manner.

National Pension System (NPS), which is regulated by PFRDA, has a unique architecture where under professional competencies of various intermediaries have been leveraged for efficient and cost effective service delivery, whether in the capacity of Central Record keeping Agency, Trustee Bank, Custodian etc. Similarly various Govt. sector Nodal officers, Banks, MFIs etc. are presently providing customer interface.