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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 19th 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
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