Shillong, May 8: Acting on a demand from retired employees of deficit schools and colleges, the state government has allowed them to exit the Centralised Provident Fund Scheme, 2026 and take their entire accumulated savings.
Earlier, several retired deficit school and college employees approached the Government seeking permission to withdraw the full amount in their CPF accounts due to “financial, medical and personal exigencies,” according to an official notification issued on Friday to that effect.
Informing about the government decision, Commissioner & Secretary in-charge Education Vijay Kumar Mantri said, “Retired deficit school and college employees shall be permitted to opt out of the Meghalaya Non-Government Schools and Colleges Employees Centralised Provident Fund Scheme, 2026 and withdraw 100% of the amount accrued in their respective CPF accounts.”
The process requires verification by the Directorate of School Education & Literacy for school staff and the Directorate of Higher & Technical Education for college staff. Only after their authorisation can the State Bank of India, Laitumkhrah Branch, release funds from the Meghalaya Non-Government Teachers EPF Account.
To ensure informed consent, SBI must first counsel retiring employees on the estimated monthly pension likely to accrue under the best available annuity scheme if 50% of the corpus is annuitised, and explain the long-term financial implications of opting out of the annuity-based pension framework.
Employees must then give a written undertaking that they have been fully informed of the pensionary benefits available, understand the financial impact of full withdrawal, and are “voluntarily” exiting the Scheme.
The Government clarified that “employees opting out of the CPF Scheme under this Notification shall not thereafter be entitled to claim any benefit under the Scheme, except such accrued benefits as may already have vested prior to opting out.”
In-service deficit school and college employees can also leave the Scheme and “invest in any other financial, pension or retirement scheme of their choice.”
Post-withdrawal, their monthly CPF contribution “shall be released along with salary into their salary account or such other bank account as may be specified by the employee.”
The notification noted that while the CPF Scheme was introduced on March 18 and April 9, 2026 under the 1969 Act for long-term financial security and social protection, a review found that “neither the Act nor the Scheme mandates compulsory subscription by all deficit school and college employees.”
The Government said the move was taken in the interest of fairness, informed consent and financial autonomy of employees.
Employees who stay with the Scheme must open a PRAN account with designated SBI branches. Once all transfers and withdrawals are done, the Central CPF Account at SBI Laitumkhrah “shall be closed and no further transactions shall thereafter be carried out through the said account.”
Any implementation issues will be settled by the Education Department, “whose decision thereon shall be final.”
