Determination and authorisation of the amounts of family pension and gratuity in respect of a Government servant who dies or goes missing while in service under Central Civil Services Pension Rules 2021

Determination and authorisation of the amounts of family pension and gratuity in respect of a Government servant who dies or goes missing while in service under Central Civil Services Pension Rules 2021

CHAPTER XI

Determination and authorisation of the amounts of family pension and gratuity in respect of a Government servant who dies or goes missing while in service

71. Obtaining of claims for family pension and gratuity.- (1) Where the Head of Office has received an intimation or information about the death of a Government servant while in service, he shall ascertain whether any 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 death gratuity under rule 45, 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 persons concerned in Format 11 and send the letters to those persons for making a claim for gratuity in Form 9.

(3) Where the family of the deceased Government servant is eligible for family pension under rule 50, the Head of Office shall address the eligible member of the family or the guardian, as the case may be, in Format 12 for making a claim for family pension in Form 10 and to submit an undertaking to the Bank in Format 9.

(4)(a) If on the date of death, the Government servant was an allottee of Government accommodation, the dues pertaining to outstanding licence fee payable in respect of the period before the date of death of the Government servant shall stand waived off.

(b) Any dues relating to damages in respect of the Government  accommodation shall be recovered from the death gratuity payable to the family and if the Government accommodation is retained by the family of the deceased Government servant, the licence fee for the month in which the Government servant has died and the first three months thereafter, shall not be recovered from the family.

(c) The Head of Office shall address the Directorate of Estates within  seven days of the date of receipt of intimation or information of death of a Government servant for the issue of “No Demand Certificate” in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (1) of rule 77.

(5) Where the Head of Office has received an intimation that a Government servant has gone missing, he shall ascertain whether any gratuity or family pension or both is or are payable in respect of the missing Government servant in accordance with sub-rule (1) of rule 51  and sub-rule (4) of rule 51.

(6)(a) In the case of a missing Government servant, the Head of Office shall take action in accordance with sub-rule (2) and sub-rule (3) in respect of the missing Government servant and shall address the member of the family eligible to receive the amount of gratuity in Format 11 advising him or her for making a claim for gratuity in Form 9.

(b) The Head of Office shall also address the eligible member of the family or the guardian, as the case may be, in Format 12 for making a claim for family pension in Form 10.

(c) The Head of office shall inform the eligible members of the family that claims for payment of family pension and gratuity shall be submitted to the Head of Office after a report has been lodged with the concerned Police Station in the form of a First Information Report or a Daily Diary Entry or a General Diary Entry and a report has been obtained from the police to the effect that the Government servant could not be traced so far despite all efforts made in that regard.

(d) The claims shall be accompanied by an undertaking to the Bank in Format 9, an Indemnity Bond in Format 8, a copy each of the report lodged with the concerned Police Station and a copy of the report obtained from the police to the effect that the Government servant could not be traced so far despite all efforts made in that regard.

(e) The Head of Office shall not wait for a death certificate issued by an appropriate authority and shall initiate action under this rule on receipt of an intimation or a credible information, in any form, about the death of the Government servant.

(f) The Head of Office shall make special efforts to get the claims from the family of the deceased Government servant in the respective forms as early as possible and where the family is residing in the place of duty of  the deceased Government servant, the forms and documents may be got completed by the family personally and if the family is residing outside the place of duty, all the blank forms and other documents should be forwarded to the family with clear instructions, so as to avoid unnecessary correspondence and consequent delay.

(g) In order to decide the eligibility for family pension, a member of the family, other than the widow or widower of the deceased Government servant or pensioner, shall be required to submit, along with the claim for family pension, the documents referred to in the clause (b) of sub-rule (12) of rule 50.

72. Verification of service and emoluments for family pension and gratuity.- (1)(a) The Head of Office shall go through the service book of the deceased or missing Government servant and satisfy himself as to whether certificates of verification of service for the entire service are recorded therein.

(b)(i) 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;

(ii) the Head of Office may rely on any other relevant material to which he may have ready access;

(iii) 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 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 or disappearance of the Government servant.

(b) In case the Government servant was on extraordinary leave on the date of death or disappearance, 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 or information regarding the death of the Government servant or within one month of the receipt of intimation regarding disappearance of the Government servant, as the case may be.

73. Action to be taken in cases where service records are incomplete.- (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-rules (2) and (3), and sub-rule 7 of rule 75 there shall not be any case where service book has  not been maintained properly.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in sub-rule (1), if the service book has not been maintained properly despite the orders of the Government 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 take action as follows, namely :-

(a) For the purpose of Family Pension, if the family of the deceased or missing Government servant has become eligible for family pension in accordance with sub-rule (1) of rule 50 or sub-rule (1) of rule 51, the amount of family pension and the period for which it is payable shall be determined in accordance with sub-rule (2) of rule 50 within one month from the date of receipt of intimation or information regarding death of the Government servant or the date of receipt of intimation regarding disappearance of the Government servant.

(b) For the purpose of gratuity,

(i) In respect of the unverified portion or portions of service the Head of Office shall verify the portion or portions of such service, as the case may be, based on pay bills, acquittance rolls or other relevant records, such as last pay certificate and pay slip for the month of April (which shows verification of service for the previous financial year) and record necessary certificates in the service book;

(ii) If the service for any period is not capable of being verified in the manner specified in sub-clause (i), that period of service having been rendered by the Government servant in another office or Department, the Head of Office under which the Government servant is at present serving shall refer the said period of service to the Head of Office in which the Government servant is shown to have served during that period for the purpose of verification;

(iii) On receipt of communication referred to in sub-clause (ii), the Head of Office in that office or Department shall verify the portion or portions of such service, in the manner as specified in sub-clause (i), and send necessary certificates to the referring Head of Office within one month from the date of receipt of such a reference:

Provided that in case a period of service is incapable of being verified, it shall be brought to the notice of the referring Head of Office simultaneously;

(iv) If no response is received within the time referred to in the preceding sub-clause, such period or periods shall be deemed to qualify for pension;

(v) If at any time thereafter, it is found that the Head of Office and other concerned authorities had failed to communicate any non-qualifying period of service, the Secretary of the administrative Ministry or  Department shall fix responsibility for such non-communication;

(vi) Every effort shall be made to complete the verification of service, as specified in sub-clause (i) to sub-clause

(iv) and to make good any omissions, imperfections or deficiencies and if any omission, imperfection or deficiency is incapable of being made good and the portion of service shown as unverified in the service book which it has not been possible to verify in accordance with the procedure laid down in sub-clause (i) to sub-clause (iv), shall be ignored and service qualifying for gratuity shall be determined on the basis of the entries in the service book.

(3) Notwithstanding anything in sub-rule (1), where in the case of a deceased Government servant, the entire service is not capable of being verified and accepted immediately and there is likely to be a delay in determination of final amount of gratuity, the amount of gratuity shall be provisionally determined and drawn on the basis of the spell of qualifying service which is verified and accepted immediately preceding the date of death of the Government servant, in accordance with sub-rule (7) of rule 75.

74. Forwarding the family pension case to the Accounts Officer.- (1) On receipt of claim or claims, the Head of Office shall complete the Form 11 in respect of a deceased Government servant or a missing Government servant and send the said Form 11 to the Accounts Officer, with a covering letter in Format 10 along with the undertaking to the Bank in Format 9, duly completed and up-to-date service book of the Government servant 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 claim of a member of the family of the deceased or missing Government servant shall not be rejected on the ground that the details of such member of the family are not available in Form 4 or office records, if the Head of Office is otherwise satisfied about the eligibility of the member of the family for grant of family pension under these rules.

(3) The Head of Office shall retain one copy of the aforesaid Format 10, Form 10 and Form 11 for his office record.

(4) The Head of Office shall draw the attention of the Accounts Officer to the details of Government dues outstanding against the deceased or missing Government servant, namely:-

(a) Government dues as ascertained and assessed in term of rule 77 and recoverable out of the gratuity before payment is authorised;

(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;

(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.

75. Sanction, drawal and disbursement of provisional family pension and provisional gratuity on death of a Government servant.- (1) In the case of death of a Government servant, after a claim for family pension has been received by the Head of Office in accordance with rule 71 and the Head of Office is satisfied regarding the eligibility of the claimant for family pension, he shall draw provisional family pension not exceeding the maximum family pension as determined in accordance with the provisions of these rules, within fifteen days of the receipt of the claim. 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 as determined;

(b) after issue of the sanction letter he shall draw the amount of the provisional family pension in the same manner as pay and allowances of the establishment are drawn by him.

(2) The Head of Office shall disburse the provisional family pension (including arrears, if any) immediately after the same has been drawn under sub-rule (1).

(3) Unless the period of provisional family pension is extended under the proviso to sub-rule (1) of rule 76, 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.

(4) The Head of Office shall inform the Accounts Officer as soon as provisional family pension has been paid for a period mentioned in sub rule (3) or for the period extended under proviso to sub-rule (1) of rule 76, as the case may be.

(5) In the case of death of a Government servant, after the family pension and gratuity case has been forwarded by the Head of Office to the Accounts Officer concerned in accordance with rule 74, the Head of Office shall draw hundred per cent of the gratuity as determined in accordance with the provisions of these rules and 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 hundred per cent of the death gratuity as determined;

(b) he shall indicate in the sanction letter the amount recoverable out of the death gratuity under sub-rule (3) of rule 74;

(c) after issue of the sanction letter he shall draw the amount of hundred per cent of the death gratuity after deducting therefrom the dues mentioned in clause (b).

(6) The Head of Office shall disburse the death gratuity immediately after the same has been drawn under subrule (5).

(7)(a) Notwithstanding anything in sub-rule (1) of rule 73, if in a case of death of a Government servant, where the entire service rendered by the deceased Government servant is not capable of being verified and accepted immediately and there is likely to be a delay in determination of final amount of gratuity and forwarding the case to the Accounts Officer, the amount of gratuity shall be provisionally determined in accordance with clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of rule 45 on the basis of the spell of qualifying service which is verified and accepted immediately preceding the date of death of the Government servant.

(b) If a claim in Form 9 has been received by the Head of Office, the amount of gratuity, so determined shall be authorised by the Head of Office, on provisional basis, within one month from the date of receipt of intimation or information about the death of the Government servant.

(c) The final amount of the gratuity shall be determined by the Head of Office on the acceptance and verification of the entire spell of service by him within a period of three months from the date on which the authority for the payment of provisional gratuity was issued and the balance, if any, becoming payable as a result of determination of the final amount of gratuity shall then be authorised to the beneficiaries.

(8) The Head of Office shall inform the Accounts Officer as soon as the provisional gratuity has been paid to the claimant or claimants in accordance with sub-rule (6) or sub-rule (7).

76. Authorisation of final family pension and balance of the gratuity by the Accounts Officer.- (1) On receipt of the family pension case and the documents referred to in sub-rule (1) of rule 74, the Accounts Officer shall, within a period of one month from the date of receipt of the family pension case and the documents, apply the requisite checks and complete Section I of Part II of Form 11 and assess the amount of family pension and gratuity:

Provided that while applying the requisite checks, the Accounts Officer shall confine the verification of the correctness of emoluments for a maximum period of one year preceding the date of death or disappearance of the Government servant.

Provided further that, in the case of a deceased Government servant, if the Accounts Officer is, for any reason, unable to assess the amount of family pension 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) The Head of Office shall submit the case to the Head of Department for extension of the period of provisional family pension. After approval of the Head of Department, the Head of Office shall issue a sanction for extension of the period of provisional family pension for the period as specified by the Accounts Officer and approved by the Head of Department.

(3)(a) The Accounts Officer shall prepare the pension payment order not later than one month of the receipt of family pension case from Head of Office.

(b) Where on death of a Government servant, provisional family pension was sanctioned in accordance with rule 75, the payment of family pension shall be effective from the date following the date on which the payment of provisional family pension ceased.

(c) The Accounts Officer shall, after taking into consideration the time likely to be taken to issue Special Seal of Authority by the Central Pension Accounting Office and disbursal of family pension by the Pension Disbursing Authority, indicate in the Pension Payment Order the date up to which the provisional family pension shall continue to be paid and the  date from which the payment of family pension by the Pension Disbursing Authority shall become effective.

(d) The 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 authorised by the Accounts Officer to be paid by the Head of Office.

(e) In the case of a missing Government servant, the payment of family pension shall be effective from the date following the date up to which leave was sanctioned to the Government servant before he went missing or from the date up to which pay and allowances have been paid to the Government servant or from the date on which a report has been lodged with the concerned Police Station in the form of First Information Report or a Daily Diary Entry or a General Diary Entry, whichever is the latest.

(f) Payment of family pension shall be authorised with a condition that the payment of family pension and the arrears of family pension for the period from the date specified in clause (e) up to the date of commencement of payment of family pension shall be made by the Pension Disbursing Authority only after the expiry of a period of six months from the date of lodging of report with the concerned Police Station.

(4) 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 of deceased Government servant 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.

(5)(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 death gratuity determined under clause (a) with the remarks that the amount of the balance of the death gratuity may be drawn and disbursed by the Head of Office to the person or persons to whom the provisional gratuity has been paid in accordance with rule 75.

(c) In the case of a missing Government servant, the Accounts Officer shall determine the amount of the gratuity payable after adjusting the amount, if any, outstanding against him or her.

(d) The Accounts Officer shall, within one month of the date of receipt of case, intimate to the Head of the Office, the amount of gratuity determined under clause (c) with the remarks that the amount of the gratuity may be drawn and disbursed by the Head of Office to the person or persons to whom the gratuity is payable in accordance with rule 47, only after the expiry of a period of six months from the date of lodging of report with the concerned Police Station.

(e) The amount of gratuity withheld under clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of rule 77 shall be adjusted by the Head of Office against the outstanding licence fee mentioned in clause (viii) of sub-rule (1) of rule 77 and the balance, if any, refunded to the person or persons to whom gratuity has been paid.

(5) 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.

(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 from the gratuity failing which, in instalments, from family pension payable in future.

(7)(a) If the amount of provisional 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. In all cases where the amount of gratuity paid is more than the amount of  gratuity finally assessed by the Accounts Officer, the Head of Department shall fix the responsibility for the excess payment.

(8)(a) The Accounts Officer shall forward a copy of the Pension Payment  Order issued under this rule along with the undertaking to the Bank in Format 9 to the Central Pension Accounting Office, not later than one  month of the date of receipt of family pension case from the Head of Office, for issuing a Special Seal of Authority.

(b) The Central Pension Accounting Office shall issue the Special Seal of Authority and forward the same to the Pension Disbursing Authority along with the copy of the Pension Payment Order issued by the  Accounts Officer and the undertaking in Format 9 within ten days of the date of receipt of the Pension Payment Order from the Accounts Officer, in accordance with the orders issued by the Controller General of Accounts.

(c) The Pension Disbursing Authority shall take action to disburse the family pension to the family pensioner from the date on which it becomes due, in accordance with the orders issued by the Controller General of Accounts and Central Pension Accounting Office, not later than fifteen days of the date of receipt of Special Seal of Authority from the Central Pension Accounting Office.

(d) If there are more than one member of the family eligible to receive family pension in accordance with these rules and if a member of the family has not submitted his or her claim for family pension in Form 10, the case for issuing Pension Payment Order in favour of such member of family may be processed after his or her claim has been received and the case of other eligible members of the family for grant of family pension may be processed without linking it with the case of the family member who has not submitted the claim in Form 10.

(e) If there are more than one member of the family eligible to receive gratuity and if a member of the family has not submitted his claim for gratuity in Form 9, the case for drawal of gratuity in his favour may be  processed after his claim has been received and the case of other eligible members of the family for sanction of gratuity may be processed without linking it with the case of the family member who has not submitted the  claim in Form 9.

77. Adjustment of Government dues.- (1) In case of dues pertaining to  Government accommodation, the following action shall be taken, namely:-

(i) If on the date of death or disappearance, the Government servant was allottee of Government accommodation, the Head of Office, on receipt of intimation or information regarding the death or disappearance of the Government servant shall, within seven days of the receipt of such intimation or information, forward the available details regarding the Government accommodation, to the Directorate of Estates and request the Directorate of Estates for issuing a `No demand certificate’ in respect of the deceased or missing Government servant so that authorisation of family pension and gratuity is not delayed and the Head of Office shall  also supply the following information to the Directorate of Estates, namely:-

(a) name of the deceased or missing Government servant with designation;

(b) particulars of the existing accommodation along with available details of any other accommodation, which was in occupation of the Government servant in the past (Quarter number, type and locality);

(c) date of death or disappearance of Government servant;

(d) whether the Government servant was on leave at the time of his death or disappearance and, if so, the period and nature of leave;

(e) whether the Government servant was enjoying rent-free accommodation;

(f) the period up to which licence fee had been recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased or missing Government servant and the monthly rate of recovery and particulars of the pay bill under which last recovery was made;

(g) if the licence fee had not been recovered up to the date of death or disappearance and the family intends to retain Government accommodation for the permissible period thereafter, details of the –

(A) period for which licence fee has not been recovered;

(B) the amount of licence fee in respect of the period at (A) to be determined on the basis of the standard rent bill;

(C) the amount of licence fee for the retention of Government accommodation by the family of the deceased or missing Government servant for the permissible concessional period beyond the date of death or disappearance of the Government servant to be determined on the basis of standard bill;

(D) the amount of licence fee mentioned at (C) proposed to be recovered  out of gratuity;

(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.

(ii) While calculating the dues in respect of the Government accommodation, the dues pertaining to outstanding licence fee payable  in respect of the period before the date of death of the Government servant shall be waived off and if the Government accommodation is retained by the family of the deceased Government servant after his death, the licence fee for the month in which the Government servant has died and the first three months thereafter, shall not be recovered from the family.

(iii) The Head of Office shall recover from the gratuity the amount of licence fee as intimated to the Directorate of Estates under clause (i) and clause (ii).

(iv) The recovery of licence fee for the occupation of Government accommodation beyond the permissible concessional period shall be the responsibility of the Directorate of Estates.

(v) The Directorate of Estates shall scrutinise their records with a view to determine if any dues other than the licence fee referred to in clause (i) was outstanding against deceased or missing Government servant and 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 one month of the receipt of intimation from Head of Office under clause (i) regarding the death or disappearance of the Government servant.

(vi) Pending receipt of information under clause (v), the Head of Office shall withhold ten per cent of the death gratuity.

(vii) If no intimation is received by the Head of Office regarding recovery  of outstanding dues or the Directorate of Estates expresses its inability to assess the outstanding dues within the period specified under clause (v), it shall be presumed that nothing was recoverable from the deceased or missing Government servant and the amount of gratuity withheld shall be paid to the person or persons to whom the amount of gratuity was paid.

(viii) If the Head of Office has received intimation from the Directorate of Estates under clause (v) regarding dues outstanding against the deceased or missing Government servant, the Head of Office shall verify from the acquaintance rolls if the outstanding amount was recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased Government servant and if as a result of verification, it is found that the amount of dues 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 (vi) to the person or persons to whom the gratuity was paid.

(ix) If the outstanding amount of dues was not recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased or missing Government servant, the outstanding amount shall be adjusted against the amount of the gratuity withheld under clause (vi) and the balance, if any, repaid to the person or persons to whom the amount of gratuity was paid.

(x) Any amount of licence fee or damages, remaining unpaid after  adjustment from the withheld amount of gratuity and any dues intimated  by the Directorate of Estates after the amount of gratuity has been paid, 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) In case of dues other than those referred to in sub-rule (1), the Head of Office shall, within fifteen days of the receipt of intimation regarding death or disappearance of a Government servant, take steps to ascertain if any dues as referred to in rule 67, excluding the dues pertaining to the allotment of Government accommodation were recoverable from the deceased or missing Government servant and such ascertainable dues shall be recovered from the amount of gratuity becoming payable to the family of the deceased or missing Government servant.

78. Payment of family pension and death gratuity when a Government servant dies or goes missing while on deputation.- (1) In the case of a Government servant who dies or goes missing while on deputation to another Central Government Department, action to authorise family pension and gratuity in accordance with the provisions of these rules shall be taken by the Head of Office of the borrowing Department.

(2) In the case of a Government servant who dies or goes missing while on deputation to a State Government or while on foreign service, action to authorise the payments of family pension and gratuity in accordance with the provisions of these rules 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.

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