No:IRTSA/CHQ/ Memo/ 2022-7

Date:17.10.2022

Dr. Jitendra Singh
MoS DoPT & DoP&PW
mos-pp[at]nic.in

Respected Sir,

Sub: Recommendation of 110th Report on the Subject ‘Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)’ Submitted to parliament on 10th Dec 2021.

We seek your kind attention on the recommendations of 110th Report of Parliamentary committee on the Subject ‘Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)’ submitted to parliament on 10th Dec 2021. The committee proposed as many as 31 recommendations on following four main headings are given in Annexure-1,

• Effectiveness of CPENGRAMS and pension Adalats.
• Grievances pertaining to Pension Policy, Pension Structure and other Retirement Benefits.
• Grievances pertaining to Authorization, sanction and processing of pension Authorization, Sanction and Processing of pension.
• Grievances pertaining to disbursement of pension.

We request the Government to accept the recommendations of the committee except the recommendations on proposed monthly contribution of Rs.5000, Rs.2500 and Rs.1500 and proposed change in the ratio of Savings Fund to Insurance Fund in CGEGIS in sl.no. 7 & 8 of Annexure-1.

Memorandum on Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) – Revision of coverage & monthly subscription is attached in Annexure-2.

We request for earlier action and favourable decision on the recommendations.

Thanking you

Yours faithfully,

(Harchandan Singh),
General Secretary, IRTSA

Annexure-1

Recommendation of 110th Report on the Subject ‘Pensioner’s Grievances – Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)’ Submitted to parliament on 10th Dec 2021

Effectiveness of CPENGRAMS and pension Adalats

1) Constitute social audit panels to identify core grievance prone areas and streamline their systems accordingly.

2) DoP&PW to rope in Quality Council of India and enable the agencies involved in Pension authorization, sanctioning, processing and disbursement to streamline their systems so as to mitigate the volume of grievances and also to ensure citizen satisfaction.

3) Put an accountability mechanism in place and explore the feasibility of holding the grievance redressal authorities concerned answerable for summarily disposing of grievances without appropriate qualitative action.

4) The 100th committee desired that there should be a nodal authority in the department to whom complaints against the orders/ decisions of individual Ministries/ Departments can be made. The Committee hopes that the appellate mechanism shall be operationalized at the earliest. The Department may apprise the Committee about the status of appellate mechanism in its Action Taken Replies.

5) The Committee recommends the Department to harness video conferencing technology and hold Virtual All India Pension Adalats on a half-yearly basis so that the grievances which could not be resolved through CPENGRAMS during the six-month period and beyond can be redressed at once.

6) DoP&PW to explore the feasibility of institutionalizing an alternative dispute resolution mechanism such as pre-litigation conciliation to resolve the grievances of pensioners at pre-litigation stage itself.

Grievances pertaining to Pension Policy, Pension Structure and other Retirement Benefits

7) The Committee recommends the Government to implement the recommendations of 7th CPC and increase the Insurance amount to Rs. 50,00,000, Rs. 25,00,000 and Rs.15,00,000 for Group ‘A’, ‘B’ and C officers/ staff respectively with commensurate enhancement in monthly contribution of Rs. 5000, Rs. 2500 and Rs. 1500 for respective Groups of officers/ staff.

8) The Committee agrees with the observation made by the 7th CPC in this regard and recommended that the ratio of Savings Fund to Insurance Fund be modified from the present 70:30 to 75:25 at the earliest.

9) The Committee, accordingly, recommends that the extant practice of opening multiple GPF accounts by an employee in transferable establishment should be done away with and that only single GPF account should be in operation throughout the duration of his/ her service.

10) The Committee recommends that the Government may consider payment of “Provisional Pension” until the final pension is sanctioned to the retired Government servant.

11) DoP&PW should intervene in the matter of difficulties faced by retirees of Central Armed Police Forces and come up with a viable solution and apprise the Committee in this regard.

12) The Committee is of the view there may be exigencies when the old age pensioners may directly approach non-empanelled hospitals for treatment without first approaching a Government hospital. They should not be deprived of their rightful entitlements under any circumstances. The Committee recommends the Department to play a pro-active role and pursue the matter with the Ministry of Health and Family welfare. The Committee also recommends the DoP&PW to seek details of action taken by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the judgements of the Apex Court in this regard and furnish them to the Committee in its Action Taken Replies.

13) The Government may explore opening of CGHS centres at district locations or designate already functional Government hospitals in district headquarters as CGHS Centres to provide treatment to CGHS beneficiaries.

14) The Government may also include settlement of medical facility related grievances of pensioners on the portal of CPENGRAMS as requested by pensioners and the DoP&PW should work in tandem with Health Ministry in this regard.

15) The Committee recommends DoP&PW to take up this issue of enhancement of Fixed Medical Allowance with the Finance Ministry as Rs 1000 is a very meagre amount for an old age pensioner.

16) The recommends DoP&PW and CGA that the procedural loopholes coming in this way should be plugged and ensure that all such pensioners should get FMA Surrender Certificates in a hassle free manner through online mode under intimation to the bank concerned and a timeline should be fixed in this regard.

17) The Committee feels that either the provisions for medical facilities available to serving employees also needs to be extended to pensioners or instead of increasing FMA year after year, DoP&PW may moot a proposal for introducing cashless health insurance facilities for such pensioners in nearby Private Health Centers in lieu of FMA on voluntary basis.

18) The Committee is of the view that the Government should sympathetically consider the demand of Pensioners’ Associations for 5% additional quantum of Pension on attaining the age of 65 years, 10% on 70 years, 15% on 75 years and 20% on 80 years to the Pensioners.

19) DoP&PW should pursue the matter of implementation of MACP w.e.f 1st January, 2006 with DoPT.

20) The committee hopes that additional funds will be provided to deserving pensioners’ associations based on their previous performance and fund utilization.

21) The Committee also recommends DoP&PW to consider the case of Pensioners’ who retired on 30th June and were denied the increment on the plea that next date of retirement is 1st July.

22) Explore the feasibility of amending Central Civil Services Pension rules to enable widows of Paramilitary/ Civil Government Servants get full liberalized pension at par with widows of defence personnel even after their remarriage

Grievances pertaining to Authorization, sanction and processing of pension Authorization, Sanction and Processing of pension

23) DoP&PW to apprise whether Bhavishya software renders end-to-end digitization of the whole pension process possible in its Action Taken Replies.

24) The Department may also inform the Committee about the status of implementation of Bhavishya Software by non-civil Ministries in its Action Taken Replies.

25) The Committee observes that web portal needs more publicity and emphasizes that CPAO should publicise the portal through all possible means including the print and electronic media so that the benefits of the portal reach targeted beneficiaries.

26) The Committee notes that the procedure of obtaining medical certificate/disability certificate by children of a deceased Government Servant is Kafkaesque and needs to be simplified.

27) The Committee is of the view that Head of Office in a Ministry/Department may consider obtaining the forms/ pension papers from the retiring Government servant one year instead of six months before his or her date of retirement and determining the amount of Government dues.

28) The Committee, accordingly, recommends that for the benefit of pensioners/family pensioners’ of paramilitary forces, the Battalion Headquarter should be made place of pension’s disbursement, instead of last place of posting. Further, the Committee also feels that Department needs to explore the feasibility of giving a choice to pensioners to choose place of pension disbursement in case of transferable job.

29) The Committee recommends the Department to gradually expand the scope of digital life certificate (DLC) from Home project, Doorstep Banking and submission of DLC through postal agent to all major cities and towns. The Committee recommends the Department to ensure that Video based Customer Identification Process and Facial recognition technologies are operationalized on a wider scale at the earliest.

Grievances pertaining to disbursement of pension

30) DoP&PW along with Reserve Bank of India and Ministry of Finance to assess the feasibility of utilizing the Business Correspondent network to enable senior citizens to withdraw their pension amount from the comfort of their homes.

31) The Committee notes that pension paying branches, instead of resolving issues raised by the pensioners, either direct the pensioners to approach the centralised pension processing centres (CPPC) or pass on the responsibility for delays and inaccuracy in payment to the CPPC. The Committee also recommends the Department to discuss the matter with RBI and Ministry of Finance and assess the feasibility of appointing a Pensioner Ombudsman on the lines of Bank Ombudsman for resolving grievances arising out of disbursement of pensions and apprise the Committee regarding the same in its Action Taken Replies.

Recommendation of 110th Report on the Subject ‘Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)’ Submitted to parliament on 10th Dec 2021

The post Pensioners Grievances Impact of Pension Adalats and CPENGRAMS – IRTSA appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

No: 17/3/2021-P&PW(Coord.) E 7179
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension
Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare

8th Floor, B-Wing,
Janpath Bhawan, Janpath,
New Delhi-110001
Dated: 06.08.2021

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject:- Guidelines for timely and qualitative disposal of Pensioners’ Grievances – reg.

The undersigned is directed to say that the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) has provided a single window interface for all Central Government pensioners to register their grievances pertaining to any of the Central Government Ministry/ Department/ Organisation, which is thereafter forwarded online to the concerned Ministry/Department/ Organisation for redressal through the CPENGRAMS Portal.

2. In 2019, Pensioners’ grievance redressal system was expanded with the objective to provide easy access to pensioners who are living in remote areas and have no proper access to the Internet for registration of their grievances or not conversant with online technology. Accordingly, an Integrated Grievance Cell & Call Centre was inaugurated on 20th June, 2019 for pensioners enabling pensioners to register their grievance by calling on the toll free number 1800-11-1960. The Call Centre Executives register the grievance on CPENGRAMS, after taking inputs from pensioners, and thereafter it is forwarded to the concerned Ministry/ Department/Organization online for redressal. Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare also coordinates with different Ministries/Departments to resolve the grievances of the elderly pensioners and keep the pensioners informed about the progress of their grievances till disposal through this online system CPENGRAM.

3. The purpose of grievance redressal machinery is not only to allow easy access of Govt Machinery for pensioners but also disposal of the grievances expeditiously while maintaining the quality in redressal of the grievances. Keeping in view of the above objective, DoPPW has put in place a system of holding regular review meetings with Ministry/ Department/ Organization having large pendency of grievances. In order to ensure quality in disposal of Grievances, DoPPW is periodically analyzing closed Grievances and re-registering cases, wherever it is observed that Grievances were closed by the offices without taking appropriate final action. Though time and again specific guidelines/instructions have been issued to the Ministries, a need is felt to consolidate all instructions/guidelines and revise the time limit for redressal of grievances specially for the priority target groups i.e. family pensioners and super-senior pensioners in order to promote good governance and to ensure that the pensioners /family pensioners get their rightful entitlements.

All Ministries/ Departments are advised to follow the guidelines given below for redressal of the Grievances :

• i. In accordance with the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972, every office is responsible for pension sanction, revision and payment of retirement benefits to its employees. Therefore, every grievance related to pension and other retirement benefits shall be redressed by the concerned office from where the employee retired or served before his/her death.
• ii. Every grievance shall be disposed of within the ambit of extant rules. In case of a grievance falling outside the ambit of rules, a speaking order shall be issued indicating the rule position.
• iii. All Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations shall strictly adhere to the time limit of 45 days to resolve the pensioners’ grievances. If the grievance pertains to a family pensioner/ super-senior pensioner (aged 80 years and above) the dead-line to resolve the grievance shall be 30 days.
• iv. Every grievance shall be closed only after its final resolution. If a grievance pertains to subordinate/attached office, the case may be forwarded by the Ministry/ Department to the concerned office but it should not be closed until final action is taken. The responsibility lies with the concerned Ministry/ Department to follow up the matter with subordinate/ attached units for final resolution. Every Nodal Officer should undertake a weekly review of pending grievances in the portal.
• v. The grievance shall not be closed for the want of any documents from the pensioner/ family pensioner. The office may contact the concerned pensioner on the mobile number or email as available in the CPENGRAM Portal in order to ensure speedy and satisfactory disposal of grievances.
• vi. Ministry/ Department/ Organization shall dispose of the grievances after indicating that it is ‘Accepted’ or ‘Rejected’ or ‘Partially Accepted.’ In case grievance is disposed of in favour of pensioner, the option ‘Accepted’ shall be indicated. In other cases, a speaking order shall be passed giving reasons for rejection/partial acceptance and also uploaded in the portal.
• vii. Re-registered cases should be disposed of by Appellate Authorities nominated in every Ministry/ Department/ Organization for the purpose.
• viii. Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations shall identify core grievance prone areas and streamline their systems to eliminate root cause of grievances. Cases delayed beyond the dead-line should be analysed and addressed promptly.

4. All the Ministries/ Departments are requested to bring the above instructions to the notice of all concerned under their administrative control for compliance.

Sd/-
(Naresh Bhardwaj)
Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of India

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The pensioners grievances are registered and monitored through online Centralized Pension Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS), a web based application taken up under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). To help pensioners lodge their grievances and to provide related information the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DOPPW) has identified 30 pensioner associations across the country. The pendency of the grievances is monitored by holding review meetings with nodal officers of Ministries/Departments and 7 such meetings have been held during the current financial year. This has resulted in redressal of about 22000 out of 29,000 grievances during the current calendar year (upto 12/12/2013).

These pensioners’ associations have been functioning as facilitators between the pensioners on the one hand and the pension sanctioning authorities on the other. The meetings of Standing Committee of Voluntary Associations (SCOVA), of which some Associations are the members, are held twice a year under the Chairmanship of Minister of State also to discuss the various issues pertaining to the pensioners.

Above information was given by Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pension in reply of undermentioned Lok Sabha Question:-

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL,PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 2169

ANSWERED ON 18.12.2013

PENSIONERS GRIEVANCES

2169 . Shri P.R. NATARAJAN

Will the Minister of PERSONNEL,PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether there is any Government mechanism available for redressal of pensioners` grievances;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the pensioners` associations, if any, have been accorded any legal authority to represent the grievances of pensioners; and

(d) if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY)

(a) to (d):  ** see above **

Source: Lok Sabha Q&A
via: Karnmk.blogspot.in

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