new delhi there is hope for thousands of employees whose provident fund dues totalling over rs 1500 crore are locked in litigation the government will urge courts to sort out on a priority basis provident fund cases where an injunction has been granted the employees provident fund organisation which manages retirement funds for organised sector staff has directed all regional officers to impress upon courts the social fallouts of delay and also bring to notice two sc judgements where pf dues have been declared as priority to protect the interest of beneficiaries all officers in charge of regional offices are requested to make all out efforts in taking up the pending cases with chief justices of high courts which granted stay against recovery by bunching of such cases and filing early hearing petitions impressing upon the court that delay in expeditious disposal of cases leads to social issues affecting the subscribers and their families said a note circulated to all regional officers on behalf of the central provident fund commissioner all additional central and regional pf commissioners have been asked to report action taken on the matter within 30 days the epfo that handles retirement savings worth rs 35 lakh crore of more than 50 million organised sector workers recently started a month long recovery drive for provident arrears but realised that it would not amount to much till the amount caught up in litigation gets released there are more than 6000 disputes related to nonpayment of provident fund pending in courts provident fund dues stuck in litigation account for almost fourfifths of the total nir or notimmediately recoverable category involving rs 2000 crore it is a pity that there is so much delay as for a large number of workers it is the only money that they have saved for their retirement years we are determined to ensure that these cases are resolved as early as possible an epfo official told et