The political parties, together with trade unions, were contemplating legal action against the proposed Bill to introduce a pension scheme for private sector employees, UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake said yesterday.

The Bill was presented in Parliament early this month, and it is expected to be debated on April 27, 2011.

Mr. Karunanayake told Daily Mirror yesterday the government had tried to hoodwink 7.5 million private sector employees through this move.

“If the government wants to give benefits to these workers, the government should invest its own money for the purpose. The government now tries to take away money from the EPF and the ETF and give it back to workers. The government has no right to do it,” he said.

The UNP MP cited this as an exercise to legitimize a fraud.

“Workers should contribute for ten years to benefit from this scheme. If they do it for   nine years, they won’t get anything. That is why, we call it a fraud. Our stand is clear. We will oppose this Bill,” he said.

Asked when the Bill would be challenged in a court of law, he said that it was a collective action by the political parties and the trade unions and they would do it very soon. (Kelum Bandara)