Under Section 27(1) of the PFRDA Act, 2013, any intermediary (including a point of presence) who was associated with a pension scheme appointed by the Interim PFRDA immediately before the establishment of the Authority, and for whom no registration certificate was necessary prior to such establishment, may continue to act for how long?

Section 27(1), proviso, reads: "any intermediary, including any point of presence, who had been associated with a pension scheme and appointed to act as such by the Interim Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority immediately before the establishment of the Authority under this Act for which no registration certificate was necessary prior to such establishment, may continue to do so for a period of six months from such establishment or, if he has made an application for such registration within the said period of six months, till the disposal of such application." The proviso thus grants a six-month grace period, extendable only if a timely application is made and is pending. Option (B) mentions three months, which has no statutory basis; (C) stretches to one year; (D) misreads the provision as open-ended; (E) ties the period to regulations, which is incorrect. The question targets candidates who confuse this specific proviso with general registration timelines elsewhere in the Act. The correct answer is (A).