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77. Obtaining of claims for family pension and 2[death gratuity]
(1) Where the Head of Office has received an intimation about the death of a Government servant while in service, he shall ascertain whether any 2[death gratuity] or family pension or both is or are payable in respect of the deceased Government servant.
| (2) | (a) | Where the family of the deceased Government servant is eligible for the 2[death gratuity] under Rule 50, the Head of Office shall ascertain - | |
| (i) | if the deceased Government servant had nominated any person or persons to receive the gratuity ; and | ||
| (ii) | if the deceased Government servant had not made any nomination or the nomination made does not subsist, the person or persons to whom the gratuity may be payable. | ||
| (b) | The Head of Office shall, then, address the person concerned in Form 10 or Form 11, as may be appropriate, for making a claim in Form 12. | ||
(3) ^[ Where the family of the deceased Government servant is eligible under rule 54 for family pension, the Head of Office shall address the eligible member of the family or the guardian, as the case may be, in Form 13 for making claim in Form 14.]
Provided that the guardian shall not be required to submit a claim in the said Form on behalf of a child if the child has attained the age of eighteen years and such child may himself or herself submit a claim in the said Form.
(4) Omitted by G.I., Dept. of P. & P.W., Notification No. 2/18/87-P. & P.W. (PIC), dated the 20th July, 1988, published as S.O. No. 2388 in the Gazette of India, dated the 6th August, 1988..
(5) If on the date of death, the Government servant was an allottee of Government accommodation, the Head of Office shall address the Directorate of Estates for the issue of "No Demand Certificate" in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (1) of Rule 80-C.
Footnote : 2. Substituted by G.I., Dept. of P. & P.W., Notification No. 2/18/87-P. & P.W. (PIC), dated the 20th July, 1988, published as S.O. No. 2388 in the Gazette of India, dated the 6th August, 1988.
^ Substituted vide GSR 628(E), dated 1st September, 2014, Government of India, Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare Notification No.1/19/2013-P&PW(E), dated 29th August, 2014
| (1) | (a) | The Head of Office while taking action to obtain claim or claims from the family in accordance with the provisions of Rule 77 shall simultaneously undertake the completion of Form 18. The work shall be completed within one month of the date on which intimation regarding the date of death of the Government servant has been received. |
| (b) | The Head of Office shall go through the service book of the deceased Government servant and satisfy himself as to whether certificates of verifications of service for the entire service are recorded therein. | |
| (c) | If there are any periods of unverified service, the Head of Office shall accept the unverified portion of service as verified on the basis of the available entries in the service book. For this purpose the Head of Office may rely on any other relevant material to which he may have ready access. While accepting the unverified portion of service, the Head of Office shall ensure that service was continuous and was not forfeited on account of dismissal, removal or resignation from service, or for participation in strike. | |
| (2) | (a) | For the purpose of determination of emoluments for family pension and 2[death gratuity], the Head of Office shall confine the verification of the correctness of emoluments for a maximum period of one year preceding the date of death of the Government servant. |
| (b) | In case the Government servant was on extraordinary leave on the date of death, the correctness of the emoluments for a maximum period of one year which he drew preceding the date of the commencement of the extraordinary leave shall be verified. |
(3) The process of determination of qualifying service and qualifying emoluments shall be completed within one month of the receipt of intimation regarding the date of death of the Government servant and the amount of family pension and 2[death gratuity] shall also be calculated accordingly.
Footnote : 2. Substituted by G.I., Dept. of P. & P.W., Notification No. 2/18/87-P. & P.W. (PIC), dated the 20th July, 1988, published as S.O. No. 2388 in the Gazette of India, dated the 6th August, 1988.
| 79. | Determination of the amount of family pension and gratuity where service records are incomplete |
According to the existing instructions, there should not be any case where service book has not been maintained properly. If in any particular case, the service book has not been maintained properly despite the Government's orders on the subject, and it is not possible for the Head of Office to accept the unverified portion of service as verified on the basis of entries in the service book, the Head of Office shall not proceed with the verification of the entire spell of service. The verification of service in such a case shall be confined to the following spells of service :-
| (a) | For the purpose of Family Pension, 1964 - | ||
(i) |
If the deceased Government servant on the date of death had rendered more than one year of service but less than seven years of service, the service and emoluments for the last year of service shall be verified and accepted by the Head of Office and the amount of Family Pension, 1964, determined under sub-rule (2) and sub-rule (2-A) of Rule 54. |
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(ii) |
If the deceased Government servant on the date of his death had rendered more than seven years of service, the service for the last seven years and emoluments for service rendered in the last year shall be verified and accepted by the Head of Office and the amount of Family Pension, 1964 and the period for which it is payable shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (3) of Rule 54. |
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(iii) |
If the deceased Government servant at the time of death had rendered more than seven years of service and the service of last seven years is not capable of being verified and accepted by the Head of Office but the service rendered during the last year is capable of being verified and accepted, the Head of Office, pending the verification of service for seven years, shall calculate the amount of family pension in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (2) and sub-rule (2-A) of Rule 54. |
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(iv) |
The service for the last seven years shall be verified and accepted within the next two months and the amount of family pension at the enhanced rate and the period for which it is payable shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (3) of Rule 54. |
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(v) |
The determination of the amount of family pension in accordance with the provisions of sub-clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) shall be done within one month of the receipt of intimation of the date of death of the Government servant. |
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(b) |
For the purpose of 1[death gratuity] - |
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1(i) |
If the deceased Government servant had on the date of his death rendered more than 5 years of qualifying service but less than 20 years of qualifying service, and the spell of last 5 years has been verified and accepted by the Head of Office under clause (a), the amount of death gratuity shall be equal to 12 times of his emoluments as indicated in item (iii) of the Table below clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 50. Where the verified and accepted service is less than 5 years, the amount of death gratuity shall be the amount as indicated in Item (i) or Item (ii) in the Table below clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 50, as may be applicable. |
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(ii) |
If the deceased Government servant had rendered more than 1[twenty years] of service and the entire service is not capable of being verified and accepted, but the service for the last five years has been verified and accepted under sub-clause (i), the family of the deceased Government servant shall be allowed, on provisional basis, the 1[death gratuity] equal to 12 times of the emoluments. Final amount of the gratuity shall be determined by the Head of Office on the acceptance and verification of the entire spell of service which shall be done by the Head of Office within a period of six months from the date on which the authority for the payment of provisional gratuity was issued. The balance, if any, becoming payable as a result of determination of the final amount of 1[death gratuity] shall then be authorised to the beneficiaries. |
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| Footnote: | 1. Ommitted by Notification No. 2/18/87-P&PW(PIC) dated 20-7-1988 | ||
79. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA'S DECISION
| Special efforts to be made to get the claims papers quickly |
| Action to be initiated immediately on receipt of intimation of death without waiting for formal death certificate |
(1) Special efforts to be made to get the claims papers quickly. - The above procedure has been laid down in order to facilitate the expeditious issue of the authority for the payment of family pension and death gratuity so that the family of the deceased Government servant is not put to hardship. The Head of Office has to ensure that action to obtain the claim or claims from the beneficiaries, completion of Form 18 and assessment of Government dues is initiated simultaneously. Special efforts have to be made to get the claims in the respective Forms from the family of the deceased Government servant as early as possible. Where the family is residing in the place of duty of Head of Office, the Forms and documents which are required to be completed by the family may, if possible, be obtained personally and for this purpose the services of the Welfare Officer could be utilized. If the family is residing outside the place of duty of the Head of Office, all the Forms and other documents which are required to be sent to the family should be forwarded with clear instructions so that unnecessary correspondence is avoided.
[G.I., M.F., O.M. No. F. 11 (9)-E. V (A)/77, dated the 15th February, 1979.]
(2) Action to be initiated immediately on receipt of intimation of death without waiting for formal death certificate. - The Study Team has recommended that the dealy in sending the claim papers to the family of deceased Government servants should be avoided. In this connection, attention is invited to the detailed instructions which already exist in Chapter IX of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, which provide that the Head of Office should take immediate action for sanction of family pension and other retirement benefits in case of death while in service. These instructions should be strictly followed in cases of death of a Government servant while in service to avoid delay in payment of admissible pensionary benefits. Action to process such cases should be initiated immediately on receipt of intimation of death without waiting for production of the formal death certificate.
[G.I., Dept. of Pen. & P.W., O.M. No. 38/116/93-P. & P.W. (F), dated the 2nd May, 1994 - Para.5]
80. Forwarding the papers to the Accounts Officer
(1) On receipt of claim or claims, the Head of Office shall complete ^[items 14, 21 and 22] of Form 18 and send the said Form in original to the Accounts Officer with a covering letter in Form 19 along with the Government servant's service book duly completed up-to-date and any other documents relied upon for the verification of the service claimed. This shall be done not later than one month of the receipt of claim by the Head of Office.
(2) The Head of Office shall retain one copy of the aforesaid Form 18 for his office record.
(3) ^[Omitted]
(4) The Head of Office shall draw the attention of the Accounts Officer to the details of Government dues outstanding against the deceased Government servant, namely, -
| (a) | Government dues as ascertained and assesed in term of Rule 80-C and recoverable out of the gratuity before payment is authorized. | |
(b) |
Amount of gratuity to be held over partly for adjustment of Government dues which have not been assessed so far and partly as margin for adjustment in the light of the final determination of the gratuity. |
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(c) |
The maximum amount of gratuity to be held over for the purpose of Clause (b) shall be limited to ten per cent of the amount of gratuity or rupees one thousand, whichever is less. |
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(5) |
(a) |
If Form 18 has been completed and the claim or claims in the respective Forms have not been received from the beneficiary or beneficiaries, the Head of Office shall forward Form 18 and the documents referred to in sub-rule (1) to the Accounts Officer leaving unfilled ^[items 14, 21 and 22] of Part I of the said Form. |
(b) |
As soon as the claim or claims are received by Head of Office, they shall immediately be forwarded to the Accounts Officer with the request that ^[items 14, 21 and 22] of Part I of Form 18 may be filled by the Accounts Officer. |
^ Substituted vide GSR 628(E), dated 1st September, 2014, Government of India, Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare Notification No.1/19/2013-P&PW(E), dated 29th August, 2014
80A. Sanction, drawal and disbursement of provisional family pension and gratuity
(1) After the documents referred to in Rule 80 have been sent to the Accounts Officer concerned, the Head of Office shall draw provisional family pension not exceeding the maximum family pension and hundred per cent of the gratuity as determined in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter. For this purpose the Head of Office shall adopt the following procedure, namely :-
| (a) | he shall issue a sanction letter in favour of claimant or claimants endorsing a copy thereof to the Accounts Officer concerned indicating the amount of provisional family pension and hundred per cent of the gratuity as determined ; | ||
(b) |
he shall indicate in the sanction letter the amount recoverable out of the gratuity under sub-rule (4) of Rule 80 ; |
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(c) |
after issue of the sanction letter he shall draw - |
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(i) |
the amount of the provisional family pension ; and |
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(ii) |
the amount of hundred per cent of the gratuity after deducting therefrom the dues mentioned in Clause (b); |
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in the same manner as pay and allowances of the establishment are drawn by him. |
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(2) The Head of Office shall disburse the provisional family pension (including arrears, if any) and the gratuity immediately after the same have been drawn under sub-rule (1).
(3) The payment of provisional family pension shall continue for a period of six months from the date following the date of death of the Government servant unless the period is extended by the Accounts Officer under the proviso to sub-rule (1) of Rule 80-B.
(4) The Head of Office shall inform the Accounts Officer -
| (a) | as soon as the gratuity has been paid to the claimant or claimants ; and | |
(b) |
as soon as provisional family pension has been paid for a period of six months or for the period extended under proviso to sub-rule (1) of Rule 80B, as the case may be. |
(5) If the claimant or any of the claimants desire the payment of provsional family pension or of gratuity or of both through money order or bank draft, the same shall be remitted to him or her through money order or bank draft at his own cost :
Provided that in the case of any claimant who is sanctioned a provisional family pension not exceeding ^[three thousand five hundred rupees and admissible dearness relief] per mensem, the amount of pension shall, at the request of the claimant, be remitted to him or her by money order at Government expence.
Footnote : 1. Substituted by G.I., Dept. of Per. & A.R., Notification No. 31 (4)-Pen. 80, dated the 21st April, 1981. Limited raised to Rs. 500 excluding relief on pension. Amendment awaited. See proviso to Rule 66 as amended.
^ Substituted vide GSR 628(E), dated 1st September, 2014, Government of India, Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare Notification No.1/19/2013-P&PW(E), dated 29th August, 2014
80B Authorization of final ^[family] pension and balance of the gratuity by the Accounts Officer
(1) On receipt of the documents referred to in sub-rule (1) of Rule 80, the Accounts Officer shall, within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the documents apply the requisite checks and complete Section I of Part II of Form 18 and assess the amount of family pension and gratuity :
Provided that if the Accounts Officer is, for any reason, unable to assess the amount within the period aforesaid, he shall communicate the fact to the Head of Office to continue to disburse the provisional family pension to the claimant for such period as may be specified by the Accounts Officer.
| (2) | (a) | If the family pension is payable in his circle of accounting unit, the Accounts Officer shall prepare the pension payment order. |
(b) |
The payment of family pension shall be effective from the date following the date on which the payment of provisional family pension ceased. |
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(c) |
Arrears of family pension, if any, in respect of the period for which provisional family pension was drawn and disbursed by the Head of Office shall also be authorized by the Accounts Officer. |
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| ^(2-A) | ^[The Accounts Officer shall, while authorising the family pension for the first eligible member of the family, indicate the names of the permanently disabled child or children and dependent parents and disabled siblings as family pensioners in the Pension Payment Order, if there is no other member of family to whom family pension may become payable before such disabled child or children or dependent parents or disabled siblings.] | |
(3) |
(a) |
The Accounts Officer shall determine the amount of the balance of the gratuity after adjusting the amount, if any, outstanding against the deceased Government servant. |
(b) |
The Accounts Officer shall intimate to the Head of the Office, the amount of the balance of the gratuity determined under Clause (a) with the remarks that the amount of the balance of the gratuity may be drawn and disbursed by the Head of Office to the person or persons to whom the provisional gratuity has been paid. |
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(c) |
The amount of gratuity withheld under Clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 80C shall be adjusted by the Head of Office against the outstanding licence-fee mentioned in Clause (viii) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 80C and the balance, if any, refunded to the person or persons to whom gratuity has been paid. |
(4) The fact of the issue of the pension payment order shall be promptly reported to the Head of Office by the Accounts Officer and the documents which are no longer required shall also be returned to him.
(5) ^[Omitted]
(6) If the amount of provisional family pension as disbursed by the Head of Office is found to be in excess of the final ^[family] pension assessed by the Accounts Officer it shall be open to the Accounts Officer to adjust the excess amount in instalments by short payments of family pension payable in future.
| (7) | (a) | If the amount of gratuity disbursed by the Head of Office proves to be larger than the amount finally assessed by the Accounts Officer the beneficiary shall not be required to refund the excess. |
| (b) | The Head of Office shall ensure that chances of disbursing the amount of gratuity in excess of the amount actually admissible are minimized and the official or officials responsible for the excess payment shall be accountable for the overpayment. |
^ Substituted/inserted vide GSR 628(E), dated 1st September, 2014, Government of India, Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare Notification No.1/19/2013-P&PW(E), dated 29th August, 2014
80C. Adjustment of Government dues
(1) Dues pertaining to Government accommodation -
(i) If on the date of death the Government servant was allottee of Government accommodation, the Head of Office on receipt of intimation regarding the death of the Government servant shall within seven days of the receipt of such intimation, write to the Directorate of Estates for the issue of `No demand certificate' so that authorization of family pension and 1[death gratuity] is not delayed. While addressing the Directorate of Estates for the issue of no demand certificate, the Head of Office shall also supply the following information in duplicate (one copy marked to the Rent Wing and the second to the Allotment Wing) :-
| (a) | name of the deceased Government servant with designation ; | ||
(b) |
particulars of the accommodation (quarter No., type and locality) ; |
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(c) |
date of death of Government servant ; |
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(d) |
whether the Government servant was on leave at the time of his death and, if so, the period and nature of leave ; |
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(e) |
whether the Government servant was enjoying rent-free accommodation ; |
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(f) |
the period up to which licence fee had been recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased Government servant and the monthly rate of recovery and particulars of the pay bill under which last recovery was made ; |
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(g) |
if the licence fee had not been recovered up to the date of death and the family intends to retain Government accommodation for ^[the permissible period thereafter], details of the :- |
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(A) |
period for which licence fee still remains to be recovered ; |
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(B) |
the amount of licence fee in respect of the period at (A) to be determined on the basis of the standard rent bill ; |
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(C) |
the amount of licence fee for the retention of Government accommodation by the family of the deceased Government servant for the concessional period of four2 months beyond the date of death of the Government servant to be determined on the basis of standard bill ; |
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(D) |
the amount of licence fee mentioned at (B) and (C) proposed to be recovered out of 1[death gratuity] ; |
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(E) |
details of any previous reference from the Directorate of Estates having bearing on the recovery of licence fee outstanding against the allottee and action taken thereon. |
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(ii) The Head of Office shall recover from the 1[death gratuity] the amount of licence fee as intimated to the Directorate of Estates under Clause (i).
(iii) The recovery of licence fee for the occupation of Government accommodation beyond the permissible period of four2 months shall be the responsibility of the Directorate of Estates.
(iv) The Directorate of Estates shall scrutinize their records with a view to determine if licence fee other than the licence fee referred to in Clause (i) was outstanding against deceased Government servant. If any recovery is found, the amount and the period or periods to which such recovery or recoveries relate shall be communicated to the Head of Office within a period of three months of the receipt of intimation regarding the death of the Government servant under Clause (i).
(v) Pending receipt of information under Clause (iv), the Head of Office shall withhold ten per cent of the 2[death gratuity] or one thousand rupees, whichever is less.
(vi) If no intimation is received by the Head of Office within the period prescribed under Clause (iv) regarding recovery of licence fee, it shall be presumed that nothing was revocerable from the deceased Government servant and the amount of gratuity withheld shall be paid to the person or persons to whom the amount of death gratuity was paid.
(vii) If the Head of Office has received intimation from the Directorate of Estates under Clause (iv) regarding licence fee outstanding against the deceased Government servant, the Head of Office shall verify from the acquittance rolls if the outstanding amount of licence fee was recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased Government servant. If as a result of verification, it is found that the amount of licence fee shown as outstanding by the Directorate of Estates, had already been recovered, the Head of Office shall draw the attention of the Directorate of Estates to the pay bills under which the necessary recovery of the licence fee was made and subject to the provisions of sub-rule (2) take steps to pay the amount of the gratuity withheld under Clause (v) to the person or persons to whom the death gratuity was paid.
(viii) If the outstanding amount of licence fee was not recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased Government servant, the outstanding amount shall be adjusted against the amount of the gratuity withheld under Clause (v) and the balance, if any, repaid to the person or persons to whom the amount of 1[death gratuity] was paid.
^[(ix) Any amount of licence fee or damages, remaining unpaid after adjustment from the withheld amount of gratuity, may be ordered to be recovered by the Head of Office through the Accounts Officer concerned from the dearness relief without the consent of the family pensioner and in such cases no dearness relief shall be disbursed until full recovery of such dues has been made.]
(2) Dues other than those referred to in sub-rule (1) -
The Head of Office shall, within one month of the receipt of intimation regarding death of a Government servant take steps to ascertain if any dues as referred to in Rule 71 excluding the dues pertaining to the allotment of Government accommodation were recoverable from the deceased Government servant. Such ascertainable dues shall be recovered from the amount of 1[death gratuity] becoming payable to the family of the deceased Government servant.
Footnote : 1. Substituted by G.I., Dept. of P. & P.W., Notification No. 2/18/87-P. &
P.W. (PIC), dated the 20th July, 1988. Published as S.O. No. 2388 in the Gazette of India,
dated the 6th August, 1988.
2. Now twelve months - vide S.R. 317-B-11 (2).
^ Substituted/inserted vide GSR 628(E), dated 1st September, 2014, Government of India, Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare Notification No.1/19/2013-P&PW(E), dated 29th August, 2014
| 80D. | Payment of family pension and 1[death gratuity] when a Government servant dies while on deputation |
(1) In the case of a Government servant who dies while on deputation to another Central Government Department, action to authorize family pension and 1[death gratuity] in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter shall be taken by the Head of Office of the borrowing Department.
(2) In the case of a Government servant who dies while on deputation to a State Government or while on foreign service, action to authorize the payments of family pension and 1[death gratuity] in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter shall be taken by the Head of Office or the cadre authority which sanctioned the deputation of the Government servant to the State Government or to the foreign service.
Footnote : 1. Substituted by G.I., Dept. of P. & P.W., Notification No. 2/18/87-P. & P.W. (PIC), dated the 20th July, 1988. Published as S.O. No. 2388 in the Gazette of India, dated the 6th August, 1988.