Refund of Contribution Scheme (Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board)

What is the Refund of Contribution Scheme?

Refund of Contribution Scheme is one of the welfare benefits extended by the Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, constituted by the Labour Department, Government of Puducherry, in 2002 under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996.

According to the Labour Department's published list of benefits extended by the Board, the Board repays the entire amount of contribution paid by a beneficiary to the nominee or legal heir on the death of the beneficiary. The money is credited through Direct Benefit Transfer.

The amount is not a flat figure. Every registered construction worker in Puducherry pays a registration fee of Rs 25 at enrolment and an annual subscription of Rs 100 to keep the membership alive. A worker who joined the Board in 2010 and renewed every year until death in 2026 would have contributed substantially more than one who joined three years ago. Refund of Contribution Scheme simply returns that money to the family.

Set against the Board's larger cash benefits, the refund is small. Its value is different: it closes the member's account cleanly, and it is one of the few payments a family can claim without having to establish the cause of death or produce a medical opinion. All that has to be proved is that the worker was enrolled, what was paid, and who the nominee is.

Benefits paid alongside the refund

A construction worker's family in Puducherry usually claims more than one benefit at the same time. The Board's published list includes:

• Natural and accidental death benefit of Rs 70,000 to the nominees or dependants of the beneficiary.
• Accidental death benefit of Rs 2.25 lakh where the worker dies in harness, that is, during the course of employment.
• Funeral assistance of Rs 7,000 to the nominees or dependants towards funeral expenses.
• Refund of contribution, the scheme on this page.
• Continuing benefits for the family such as higher education assistance for the wards of beneficiaries, which ranges from Rs 2,000 a year for degree courses up to a one-time Rs 1,00,000 for MBBS or BDS admission through CENTAC.

Because the department settles these together, families are advised to file all the eligible claims in one visit rather than one at a time.

Who is eligible for the refund of contribution?

You can claim if:

• You are the nominee recorded with the Board by the deceased construction worker, or the legal heir of the deceased.
• The deceased was registered as a construction worker with the Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.
• The deceased had actually paid contributions. The registration fee and one or more annual subscriptions, which the receipts can establish.
• The death can be evidenced by an original death certificate.

You cannot claim if:

• The deceased was never enrolled with the Board. Workers in the construction trade who never registered leave no contribution to refund.
• You are neither the recorded nominee nor a legal heir with a certificate to prove it. A neighbour, employer or contractor cannot claim on the family's behalf.
• No contribution was ever paid, for instance where an application for enrolment was made but never completed.

The Board enrols workers between 18 and 60 years of age who have completed 90 days of construction work in the preceding 12 months and reside in the Union Territory of Puducherry, across 53 enlisted categories of construction work. Whether the worker fell in one of those categories was settled at enrolment; at claim stage the Board looks only at the membership record.

What documents are required?

The Board asks for a very similar bundle for its funeral assistance claim — application form, original death certificate, identity card copy, Aadhaar of the beneficiary and nominee, cremation certificate, attested ration card copy, the nominee's bank passbook copy with IFSC code, and the up-to-date renewal receipt. Assembling one set of papers therefore serves several claims.

How to claim the Refund of Contribution

1. Obtain the original death certificate of the registered worker from the registering authority of the local body.
2. Locate the worker's Board identity card and the subscription renewal receipts. These establish enrolment and the amount contributed.
3. Establish your standing as nominee. If a nomination is on record with the Board, carry proof of identity. If no nomination was made, obtain a legal heir certificate from the Revenue authorities first.
4. Collect the prescribed claim form from the Board office at D-1, 4th Cross, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry - 605 009, or from the regional office covering your area.
5. Fill the form and attach the death certificate, identity card copy, renewal receipts, Aadhaar copies of the deceased and the nominee, and a bank passbook copy of the nominee showing the IFSC code.
6. Submit the claim to the Labour Officer of the Board and take an acknowledgement. File the death benefit and funeral assistance claims at the same time if they have not already been filed.
7. Wait for the credit. On sanction, the refunded contribution is transferred to the nominee's account through Direct Benefit Transfer.

How to check the status of a refund claim

There is no self-service online tracker for this benefit. Status is checked by contacting the Labour Officer at the Board office where the claim was filed, quoting the acknowledgement number and the deceased worker's identity card number. The Labour Department has also published month-wise lists of beneficiaries who were extended death benefit, funeral benefit and refund of subscription fee, covering periods from October 2020 onwards, so a settled claim generally appears in one of those published lists.

Why refund claims stall

• No nomination on record and no legal heir certificate. This is the most common delay, and the fix is to apply to the Revenue authorities for the certificate before pressing the Board.
• Missing subscription receipts. Without them the Board cannot compute the refund; ask the Board office to reconstruct the payment history from its own register.
• Membership was never completed. An enrolment application that was submitted but not approved by the Secretary of the Welfare Board creates no contribution record.
• Nominee's bank details wrong. A mismatched IFSC or an account not in the nominee's name will bounce the DBT credit.
• Claim filed by someone other than the nominee or heir. The Board pays only the person entitled under its records.

Where to get help or raise a grievance

• The Labour Officer, Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, D-1, 4th Cross, Industrial Estate, Puducherry-9 to phone 0413-2241562.
• Karaikal, The Labour Officer, Board Regional Office, Perunthalaivar Kamaraj Administrative Complex, Madagadi, Karaikal.
• Commissioner of Labour, Labour Department Complex, Vazhudavur Road, Gandhi Nagar, Puducherry - 605 009 to phone 0413-2279211.
• Grievances can also be filed on the central public grievance portal at pgportal.gov.in.

The Labour Department states that the public may contact the Labour Officer in person on any working day for redressal of grievances, and that officers in charge of the Board's regional offices may be approached in the outlying regions. No fee is charged for filing a refund claim.