PENSION ; REGARDING

NO.20/16/1998-P&PW (F)

Ministry of Personnel Public Grievances and Pensions

Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare

*******

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Withholding of 10% gratuity from the retiring Government servants -

clarification regarding.

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department's OM of even number dated the 19^th February 2013 on the above cited subject and to say that this Department is still receiving representations from individuals and Pensioners Associations that Government Departments have been withholding 10% of the amount of gratuity from retirees even when they had not been provided any Government accommodation. This is in contravention of existing instructions.

2 The recovery and adjustment of Govt. dues from retirement gratuity is regulated under Rules 71 to 73 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972. Rule (1) to (3) of Rule 72 ibid provide for recovery of actual amount of Govt. dues in respect of Govt. accommodation from pay & allowances before retirement and from Retirement Gratuity. Sub rule (5) of Rule 72 ibid stipulates that if, in any particular case, it is not possible for the Directorate of Estates to determine the outstanding licence fee, that Directorate shall inform the Head of Office that ten per cent of gratuity may be withheld pending receipt of further information. Further, if no Government accommodation is allotted to a Government servant, in accordance with Dte of Estate's OM NO.18011/5/1990-Pol-1I1 dated

12.10.2010, it is for the Administrative Ministry to issue an 'NDC".

3. As regards recovery in respect of 'Govt. dues' other than those pertaining to Govt.

accommodation, the Head of Office is required to complete assessment of such dues eight months prior to the date of retirement [Rule 73(2)]. The actual amount of such dues and the dues which come to notice subsequently and remain outstanding are to be adjusted against the amount of retirement gratuity becoming payable to the Govt. servant on retirement.

4. It is, therefore, clear that there is no provision for withholding any part of gratuity at the time of retirement for the purpose of recovery of outstanding government dues other than those pertaining to government accommodation and the onus of timely collection of license fee is on the Directorate of Estates. If the Directorate of Estate does not specifically inform the Administrative Department of the outstanding dues and requests for withholding of 10% gratuity for the outstanding license fee, Gratuity cannot be withheld on this account. The only other circumstance under which gratuity can be withheld is in case of ongoing disciplinary proceedings against the

Government servant. Thus the Pay and Accounts Officer shall not withhold any gratuity unless the Head of Office

(a) encloses instructions received from Directorate of Estate for withholding of 10%

gratuity for outstanding license fee or

(b) Informs of ongoing disciplinary proceedings.

These instructions are for strict compliance of all Administrative Ministries/ Departments.

5. A revised FORM 8 - form of letter to the Accounts Officer forwarding the pension papers of Government servant is also enclosed. Formal amendment in the CCS(Pension) Rules for revised Form 8 will be notified later.

(Tripti P.Ghosh)

Director (PP)

Ministry of Personnel, P.G. & Pensions

Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare

No. 1I22/2012-P&PW (E) Dated: io" July, 2013

Office Memorandum

Sub: (i) Payment of arrears of pension in cases where valid nomination has not been

            made under the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983;

        (ii) payment of arrears of family pension - reg.

Attention is invited to the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983

which provide that after the death of the pensioner, all moneys payable to the pensioner on account of pension will be paid to the nominee of the deceased pensioner. In the absence of any nomination made by the pensioner, the arrears ofhislher pension are paid to the legal heir as per the procedure indicated in para 4 of part A of annexure to Ministry of Finance OM No.1(3)-E.V/83, dated 11.10.1983. However, dependants of some pensioners expressed difficulties in obtaining the legal heir-ship certificates and represented that the necessity of production of legal heir-ship certificates may be waived where the amount of arrears payable is small.

2. The matter had been examined in Ministry of Finance, Dlo Expenditure vide OM

dated 04/06/1985 and it was decided that in case where a valid nomination does not exist under the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983 and the dependent of pensioner is unable to produce the legal heir-ship certificate, the Payment of Lifetime Arrears of Pension accruing to the deceased pensioner may be authorized on the basis of any documentary proof regarding the relationship and heir-ship of the claimant if the gross amount of arrear does not exceed Rupees 25,000. In such cases, if the gross amount did not exceed Rupees 5,000 and case represented no peculiar features, the accounts officer was authorised to make the payment on his own authority.

3_ The Government has further looked into the matter and decided to increase the limits

of Rupees 5000 and 25000 as indicated in Department of Expenditure OM, dated 4.6.85 to Rupees 50,000 and 2,50,000 respectively. The conditions and the procedure of payment as indicated in Department of Expenditure OM, dated 22.1 0.1983 and 04.06.1985 will remain the same, which are reiterated hereunder.

4. The Pension Disbursing Authority (PDA) may receive application along with any

documentary proof regarding the relationship and heir-ship of the claimant. In case the

claimant is the recipient of family pension, the disbursing Officer will verify the identity of

the claimant with reference to the disburser's half as well as pensioner's half of the PPO and give a certificate of having done so. PDA will duly attest the documents received from the applicant and forward these along with the application to the Accounts Officer. The Accounts Officer, on receipt of application along with a copy of PPO of the pensioner and other documents from the PDA, will calculate the amount of arrears and issue necessary authority for payment of life-time arrears to the disbursing authority if the case does not present anypeculiar features and the amount does not exceed Rs.50,000. In case the amount exceeds Rupees 50,000 but does not exceed Rupees 2,50,000, the Accounts Officer will obtain the orders of the Head of Department or Administrator or the CAG in the case of pensioners from Indian Audit & Accounts Department or any Officer of that Department declared as an HOD Payment will be made on execution of a duly stamped indemnity bond in Form T.R.14/G.A.R. 26, with such sureties as necessary in terms of para 7 below. In case of any doubt and also in cases where the amount of arrears exceeds Rupees 2,50,000, payments shall be

authorized to be made only to the persons producing the legal authority.

5. This department's OM No. 43/4/95-P&PW(G), dated 30.10.1995 stipulates that in the

event of death of a family pensioner, the right to receive any arrears of family pension would automatically pass on to the eligible member of the family next in line. The requirement of succession certificate for payment of any arrears occurs only where there is no member in the family who is eligible to receive family pension after the death of the family pensioner. Therefore, it has been decided that the provisions of this office memorandum will also apply to the payment of arrears of family pension where no member of family is eligible to receive family pension.

6. The Head of Department here means the Head of Department as defined in rule 2 (xvi) of the General Financial Rules, 2005. However, in order to ensure that the citizens do not have to face unnecessary hardships, it has been decided that in the case of field

establishments, the Administrative Ministries/Departments may delegate the power of Head of Department to the Head of Office in the rank of Deputy Secretary/Director, if felt

necessary by them. It is also clarified that this OM will cover all such past cases.

7. Normally, there should be two sureties, both of known financial stability. However, in

case the amount of claim is less than Rs.75,000/-, the authority accepting the indemnity bond for and on behalf the President of India should decide on the merits of each case whether to accept only one surety instead of two. The obligor as well as the sureties executing the indemnity bond should have attained majority so that the bond has legal effect or force. The bond is required to be accepted on behalf of the President by an officer duly authorised under Article 299 (1) of the Constitution.

8. These orders will not be applicable in cases where a valid nomination exists under the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983. In such cases, the payment of arrears will be authorised to be made to the nominee (s).

9. As regards pensioners/family pensioners belonging to the Indian Audit and Accounts

Departments, these Orders issue after consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

10. This issues with the concurrence of Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure,

vide their ID Note No.568/E.V/2013, dated zs" June, 2013 and 0/0 Controller General of

Accounts vide their ID No. 1(7)/TA-I1I/2011-12/Miscl/I16, dated 13.02.2013.

(Sujasha Choudhury

Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of India