No. 3(6)/2021- P&PW(H)- 7083
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel & Public Grievance
Department of Pension and pensioners’ Welfare

8th Floor, Janpath Bhavan,
Janpath, New Delhi,
Dated: 9th March, 2021

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Timely payment of retirement benefits to the retiring employees

The undersigned is directed to say that timelines have been prescribed under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 for each activity involved in the processing of a pension case and for payment of pension and gratuity to a retiring Government servant. As per this timeline, the process of verification of service and other preparatory work should be
undertaken one year before a Government servant is due to retire on superannuation, the Government servant should submit the forms six months before retirement, the Head of Office should send the pension case to the PAO four months before retirement and the PAO should issue PPO and send it to CPAO one month before retirement. The CPAO is required to issue the Special Seal Authority within 21 days, thereafter.

2. Instructions have been issued vide this Department’s OM No 1/27/2011- P &PW (E) dated 01.08.2017 for handing over the copy of pensioner PPO to him/her at the time of retirement along with other retirement dues. The Rules also provide for sanction of provisional pension in cases where a Government servant is likely to retire before finalization of his pension and gratuity.

3. “BHAVISHYA’, the online Pension Sanction & Payment Tracking System, facilitates online tracking of pension sanction and payment process by the individual as well as the administrative authorities and keeps the retiring employees informed of the progress of pension sanction process through SMS/E-Mail. The system is, therefore, very useful for ensuring timely payment of pensionary benefits to the retiring Government servant.

4. In spite of the timelines prescribed in the rules/ instructions and simplification/ streamlining of the procedures through BHAVISHYA, issue of the PPO and payment of retirement benefits continue to be delayed in a large number of cases. A significant percentage of the grievances registered on the CPENGRAMS relate to non-payment of retirement dues for several months after retirement. Delay in settlement of retirement dues also leads to avoidable litigation. In a number of cases, the courts have directed payment of interest for the delayed period to the affected pensioners, besides making adverse comments on the functioning of the administration.

5. In order to ensure timely payment of retirement dues in all cases, it has been decided that the progress of the pension cases should be regularly monitored by the Heads of the organizations and the Heads of Departments. An effective monitoring mechanism is required to be established in every office/ Department to review the progress of processing of the pension cases. The information available from the BHAVISHYA software may be utilized for this purpose.

6. Farewell programs are often organized in the offices on the occasion of retirement of employees. This is one of the most appropriate occasions that can be utilized to review the progress of the pension cases and to sensitize the concerned staff about the importance of timely payment of retirement dues. Accordingly, in every farewell function, Heads of organizations/ Departments/ offices may review the progress of pension cases of all the employees of that organization/ Department/ office, who are due for retirement in the next six months. Wherever the processing of any pension case is found to be behind schedule, proactive action must be taken to ensure that all retirement dues are paid on time to the retiring Government servant.

7. A half-yearly statement may be submitted by each Department/ organization/ office to the Secretary of the administrative Ministry/ Department indicating the particulars of the Government servants in whose case issue of PPO was delayed by more than two months after retirement on superannuation. The statement may also contain the reasons for the delay in issuing the PPO and remedial action taken to avoid such delays in future.

2. Instructions have been issued vide this Department’s OM No 1/27/2011- P &PW (E) dated 01.08.2017 for handing over the copy of pensioner PPO to him/her at the time of retirement along with other retirement dues. The Rules also provide for sanction of provisional pension in cases where a Government servant is likely to retire before finalization of his pension and gratuity.

3. “BHAVISHYA’, the online Pension Sanction & Payment Tracking System, facilitates online tracking of pension sanction and payment process by the individual as well as the administrative authorities and keeps the retiring employees informed of the progress of pension sanction process through SMS/E-Mail. The system is, therefore, very useful for ensuring timely payment of pensionary benefits to the retiring Government servant.

4. In spite of the timelines prescribed in the rules/instructions and simplification/streamlining of the procedures through BHAVISHYA, issue of the PPO and payment of retirement benefits continue to be delayed in a large number of cases. A significant percentage of the grievances registered on the CPENGRAMS relate to non-payment of retirement dues for several months after retirement. Delay in settlement of retirement dues also leads to avoidable litigation. In a number of cases, the courts have directed payment of interest for the delayed period to the affected pensioners, besides making adverse comments on the functioning of the administration.

5. In order to ensure timely payment of retirement dues in all cases, it has been decided that the progress of the pension cases should be regularly monitored by the Heads of the organizations and the Heads of Departments. An effective monitoring mechanism is required to be established in every office/ Department to review the progress of processing of the pension cases. The information available from the BHAVISHYA software may be utilized for this purpose.

6. Farewell programs are often organized in the offices on the occasion of retirement of employees. This is one of the most appropriate occasions that can be utilized to review the progress of the pension cases and to sensitize the concerned staff about the importance of timely payment of retirement dues. Accordingly, in every farewell function, Heads of organizations/ Departments/ offices may review the progress of pension cases of all the employees of that organization/ Department/ office, who are due for retirement in the next six months. Wherever the processing of any pension case is found to be behind schedule, proactive action must be taken to ensure that all retirement dues are paid on time to the retiring Government servant.

7. A half-yearly statement may be submitted by each Department/ organization/ office to the Secretary of the administrative Ministry/ Department indicating the particulars of the Government servants in whose case issue of PPO was delayed by more than two months after retirement on superannuation. The statement may also contain the reasons for the delay in issuing the PPO and remedial action taken to avoid such delays in future.

8. All the Ministries/ Departments are requested to bring the above instructions to the notice of the offices/ field organizations under their administrative control for strict compliance.

(Rajesh Kumar)
Under Secretary to the Government of India

To,

1. Admin Division of all Ministries/ Departments of Govt. of India:- for strict compliance.
2. NIC: to upload in the website of this Department

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(Annexure-1 of CPAO letter Simplification of pension procedure-submission of undertaking by retiring Government servant and Handing over of PPO booklet by HOO)

Annexure-1

Timeline of finalizing the pension cases

Rule-58 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972
Undertake the work of preparation of pension paper by the HOO.

One year before the date of retirement on superannuation or on the date on which he proceeds on leave preparatory to retirement.

Rule-59 of CCS Pension Rules, 1972
Timelines for completion of two stages of preparation of paper.

Not later than eight months prior to the date of retirement

3 Rule-59 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972
Forwarding Form-5 to retiring govt. servant of superannuation advising him to submit the form duly completed in all respect.

Not later than six months prior to the date of his retirement

4 Rule-59 (A) of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972
Forwarding Form-5 to the retiring govt. servant other than superannuation

Should be forwarded before retirement but after the approval of such retirement by the competent authority or the retirement has become effective.

5 Rule-60 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972
Completion of pension papers by HOO.
i) Superannuation: Completion of Part-I of Form-7 by HOO.
ii) other than superannuation

Not later than four months before the retirement Within 3 months after submission of Form-5 by the Govt. servant.

6 Rule-61 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972
Forwarding of pension papers to Accounts Officer by HOO.
i) Superannuation
ii) other than superannuation

Not later than four months

Not later than three months after the date of submission of Form-5

7 Rule-65 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972
Authorisation of pension and gratuity by the Accounts Officer of PAO.

One month in advance of the date of retirement of the Govt. servant.

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O/o THE PR. CONTROLLER OF DEFENCE ACCOUNTS (PENSIONS)
DRAUPADI GHAT ALLAHABAD- 211014

Circular No: – 545

Dated: 01/09/2015

To,
The O I/C
Records/PADS (OR)
————————

Sub: Delay in preferment of pension claims in respect of normal discharge PBOR of Army, Navy and Air Force.

Ref: This office circular No. 540 dated 11/05/2015.

Under the existing orders, claims for service pension in respect of personnel below officer rank are required to be submitted to the pension sanctioning authority concerned, viz. PCDA (P), Allahabad in respect of Army, PCDA (N), Mumbai in respect of Navy and JCDA (AF), New Delhi in respect of Air Force, at least four months in advance of their retirement from service. This arrangement has been made with a view to ensure that the pensionary awards in respect of the personnel are notified in the PPO well before their discharge/retirement and the pension certificates are handed over to them before they are discharged.

It has been observed that above time schedule is not being adhered to by ROs resulting in delay in finalization of pensionary awards in respect of PBORs. Higher authorities have taken a serious view on the matter.

It is, therefore, requested that time frame for submission of pension claims to this office may strictly be followed in order to avoid delay in finalization of pensionary awards to the retiring personnel. This would definitely help in reducing the CAT/Court cases, interest payment etc at a later stage.

Please acknowledge receipt.

No. Gts/Tech/0148/LIV
Dated: 01.09.2015

Dy.CDA (P)

Source: http://pcdapension.nic.in/6cpc/Circular-545.pdf

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CPAO/Tech/Jeevan Pramaan/2015-16/515 to 662.

Subject:- Preparation of list of Government servants due to retire along with their Aadhaar numbers and incorporation of Aadhaar number in PPO Booklet.

6. Permanent Account Number for Income Tax (PAN)
7. Aadhaar No. (if Available)
8. Mobile No. (if Available)
9. E-Mail ID (if Available)

3. Further, attention is invited to Rule 56 of CCS (Pension) Rules which provides that:-

(2) A copy of every such list shall be supplied to the Accounts Officer concerned not later than 31st January, 30th April, 31st July or 31st October, as the case may be, of that year.”

Source: http://cpao.nic.in/pdf/cpao_tech_jeevan_praman_2015-16.pdf

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Note For cases of retirement other than on superannuation, it is provided that PPO shall be issued within six months of submission of duly completed Form 5 or the date of retirement whichever is later.

Pension Process Map and Time Frame

Source: Pensioners Portal

The post Pension Process Map and Time Frame for those who are retiring on superannuation appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

Important message for employees retiring within the next six months

The Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare is organizing a Pre-retirement counselling workshop on 26th May, 2015 from 2.00 PM to 5.00 PM in the Conference Room-l, India International Centre (Main Building) 40, Max Muller Marg, New Delhi-110003. The employees of Government of India retiring within the next six months and who have not attended the workshop yet are hereby informed that they may attend the workshop. Confirmation with Name, Ministry & Phone No. may be sent at the email address mkumar.mol@nic.in. The persons desirous of attending the workshop are also requested to bring their PAN and Aadhar No. A write-up on the Commendable works done by the retiring employee during his entire service is also required to upload the same on ‘ANUBHAV’ on website persmin.nic.in/pension.asp

(Sankalp)
Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare
Phone No.24641627

Source: Sankalp – Pensioners Portal
[http://www.pensionersportal.gov.in/sankalp/writereaddata/English/46PRC.pdf]

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Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions

Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare
3rd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market,
New Delhi-110003

PRE — RETIREMENT COUNSELLING WORKSHOP

Important message for employees retiring within the next six months

The Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare is organizing a Pre-retirement counselling workshop on 26th February, 2015 from 2.00 PM to 5.00 PM in the Conference Room-II, India International Centre, 40, Max Muller Marg, New Delhi-110003. The employees of Government of India retiring within the next six months are hereby informed that they may attend the workshop. Confirmation with Name, Ministry & Phone No. may be sent at the email address mkumar.mol@nic.in. The persons desirous of attending the workshop are also requested to bring their PAN and Aadhar No.

US (Sankalp)
Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare
Phone No.24641627

Source: http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D3/D03ppw/PRC_260215.pdf

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 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
(Central Civil Pensioners)
Last updated/Reviewed: 04.11.2013

PENSION PROCEDURE

E.1 What is the meaning of the following terms?
(a) Pension Disbursing Authority
(b) Pension Sanctioning Authority
(c) PPO Issuing Authority

E.2 What should a Government servant do to claim his pension?

During service each Govt. servant should satisfy himself that service is being verified and recorded so in the service book and that there are no gaps in this. He should also ensure that nomination for all payments due to him are current and valid.

Eight months prior to the retirement date, a Government servant is required to furnish certain information (e.g. joint photo with spouse, family details, name of the branch of the authorized bank through which he desires to draw his pension etc.) to his Head of Office in the prescribed Form No. 5. The Head of Office is required to undertake the work of preparation of pension papers in Form No. 7 of two years before the date on which a Government servant is due to retire on superannuation. After complying with the requirements of CCS Pension Rules 59 & 60, the Head of Office has to forward to the Pay & Accounts Officer Form 5 and Form 7 duly completed with a covering letter in Form 8 along with service book of the Government servant duly completed up-to-date and any other documents relied upon for the verification of service, not later than six months before the date of retirement of the Government servant.

E.3 Who is to authorize the pension?

On receipt of pension papers from Head of Office, the Pay & Accounts Officer concerned will, after applying requisite checks, assess the amount of pension and issue the Pension Payment Order (both halves of Pension Payment Order, i.e. disburser’s portion and pensioner’s portion) not later than one month in advance of the date of retirement of the Government servant with forwarding authority letter, duly ink-signed and embossed, to Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) who in turn will generate on computer a Special Seal Authority on the basis of details given in the Pension Payment Order and authority letter of the Pay & Accounts Officer and forward both halves of PPO with Special Seal Authority to the Central Pension Processing Centre (CPPC) of the concerned authorized Bank. All records will be maintained in the CPPC and the disbursing branch, will make the payments to the pensioner on authorization of payment of pension by the CPPC. The CPPC however is only the back office for processing pensions, all pension related problems/grievances of the pensioners will continue to be handled by the concerned paying branch as before.

E.4 What is to be done in case the pension has not been fixed correctly?

The Pay & Accounts Officer while issuing the pension authorization will forward one copy of the pension calculation sheet (out of three received by him from the Head of Office) as certified by the Head of Office and countersigned by him (Pay & Accounts Officer) to the pensioner along with the intimation of his having sent the pension payment authority/PPO to the CPAO. In case it is found from the pension calculation sheet that pension has been fixed incorrectly, the matter may be taken-up with the Head of Office. PAO concerned, if necessary, will issue an amendment authority letter to Central Pension Accounting Office for onward transmission to the CPPC to carry out necessary amendments in both halves of PPO.

PENSION DISBURSEMENT

    E.5 Can a pension account be opened in any branch of any bank?

No, a pension account cannot be opened in any branch of any bank. There is a list of public sector and private sector banks in each State in which a pension account may be opened. For latest information about the list please visit the website of Central Pension Accounting Office, www.cpao.nic.in.

    E.6 Is the payment of pension in cash or through a joint account with or without “EITHER or SURVIVOR” facility permitted in the Scheme for Payment of Pension to Central Government Civil Pensioners by Public Sector Banks?

Payment of pension in cash is not permitted in the scheme. However, the pension payment is now permitted to be credited to a joint account operated by the pensioner with his/her spouse (either by ‘Former or Survivor’ or ‘Either or Survivor’ basis) in whose favour an authorization exists in the Pension
Payment Order, subject to certain terms and conditions.

Paying branch may also credit the amount of pension in his or her joint account operated by pensioner with his/her spouse in whose favour an authorization for family pension exists in the Pension Payment Order (PPO). The joint account of the pensioners with the spouse could be operated either by ‘Former or Survivor’ or ‘Either or Survivor’ basis subject to the following conditions :-

(a) Once pension has been credited to a pensioner’s bank account, the liability of the Government/Bank ceases. No further liability arises, even if the spouse wrongly draws from the account.

(b) As pension is payable only during the life of a pensioner, his/her death shall be intimated to the bank at the earliest and in any case within one month of the demise, so that the bank does not continue crediting monthly pension to the joint account with the spouse, after the death of the pensioner. If however, any amount has been wrongly credited to the joint account, it shall be recoverable from the joint account and/or any other account held by the pensioners/spouse either individually or jointly. The legal heirs, successors, executors etc. shall also be liable to refund any amount, which has been wrongly credited to the joint account.

(c) Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules 1983 would continue to be applicable to a joint account with Pensioner’s spouse. This implies that if there is an ‘accepted nomination’ in accordance with Rules 5 and 6 of these Rules, arrears mentioned in the Rules shall be payable to the nominee.

Existing pensioners desiring to get their pension credited to a joint account as indicated above are required to submit an application to the branch bank, from where they are presently drawing pension in the enclosed form that is i.e. Annexure XXIX. This would also be signed by the pensioner’s spouse.

    E.7 Can a pension account be operated by a holder of Power of Attorney ?

The pension account cannot be allowed to be operated by a holder of Power of Attorney except in case of the account of former President of India/Vice President of India or the spouse of the deceased President/Vice President.

    E.8 Can the deduction of Income Tax at source be made from pension payments?

Yes, the paying branch will be responsible for deduction of Income Tax at source from pension payments in accordance with the rates prescribed from time to time. While deducting such tax from pension payments the paying branch will also allow deduction on account of relief available under Income Tax Act from time to time on production of proper and acceptable evidence of eligible savings by pensioners. The paying branch will also issue the pensioner in April each year a certificate of tax deducted in the form prescribed in the Income Tax Rules

    E.9 Can the excess payment, if any, credited to the pensioner’s account be recovered by the bank?

Before commencing payment of pension, the paying branch is required to obtain an undertaking in the prescribed form Annexure-XI of the Scheme from the pensioner. On the strength of this undertaking the excess payment, if any, credited to his/her account can be recovered by the paying branch.

    E.10 What is to be done if a pensioner/family pensioner desires to get his pension payment account transferred?

E.10.1 Application for transfer of pensions may fall under the following two categories;

(i) transfer from one paying branch to another of the same Authorised Bank (AB) within the same station or at a different station;
(ii) transfer from one AB to another AB

E.10.2 The pensioner/family pensioner may make request falling under both the categories above to either of the Branches. The paying branch will forward the request along with the disburser’s part of PPO, where applicable, to its CPPC for necessary action. Before forwarding the disburser’s portion of PPO to the new paying branch/CPPC, it will be ensured that the month upto which the payment has been made is invariably indicated in the disburser’s portion of PPO. The receiving CPPC on receipt of the pension documents will ensure forwarding the PPO to the paying branch if it is for the same AB or to the concerned CPPC if for a different AB within three days and intimate the facts to the pensioner simultaneously. Necessary intimation of effecting such transfer will be sent to CPAO by the new as well as old CPPCs in the form as at Annexure XXI (page-49 Scheme Booklet) as well as the escroll for keeping a note of change in their records.

(b) The new paying branch will commence the pension payment immediately on receipt of letter of the last payment certificate as above. Simultaneously, it will send an intimation to CPPC with full details of the commencement of the pension.

(c) Pension will be paid for three months on the basis of the photocopy of the pensioner’s PPO at transferee (New) branch, from the date of last date of payment made at the transferor (Old) branch. During this time, it will be the joint responsibility of both transferor (old) and transferee (New) bank branches to ensure that all the documents under the procedure, are received by the CPPC within the period of three months.

E.10.4 To avoid the risk of overpayment at the time of transfer, the following certificate is required to be recorded on the Disburser’s portion of PPO by the paying branch of the AB:
Certified that payment of pension has been made up to the month —————– and that this PPO consists of ———————continuation sheets for recording disbursement.”

E.10.5 Except as provided above, the transfer of a pension account from one payment point to another will not ordinarily be permitted.

    E.11 What is the procedure for switchover of pension payment from Pay & Accounts Office or treasury to Public Sector Bank ?

E.11.1 The applications for switch-over to authorised banks by the existing pensioners will be made in the Form as given in Annexure IX of Scheme Booklet in duplicate to the Pension Disbursing Authority.

E.11.2 The pensioners should first draw pension which has already fallen due, before applying for transfer of their pension papers to the Authorised Banks.

E.11.3 Transfer applications in duplicate shall be forwarded immediately by the Pension Disbursing Authority along with the disburser’s copy of the PPO halves, duly authenticated and written up-to-date to the CPAO for transmission to CPPC of the AB for arranging payment after keeping necessary note in their records. Action will also be taken by Pension Disbursing Authority to update the entries of payment made in the pensioner’s portion of the PPOs, if not already done, before the transfer application is sent to the CPAO.
E.11.4 If a PPO (disburser’s portion) has got torn or mutilated, it will be renewed by the CPAO with the help of PAO, if necessary, before sending it to the CPPC.

Source: http://karnmk.blogspot.in/2013

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