Centre issues new guidelines to ensure timely pension and retirement dues

Major procedural reforms such as clarification on vigilance clearance before retirement has been included for reducing the delay in issuance of Pension Payment Orders, official statement said

The Centre has issued comprehensive guidelines for effective inter-ministerial coordination for timely payment of retirement dues and issue of Pension Payment Orders of central civil services employees.

Major procedural reforms such as clarification on vigilance clearance before retirement has been included for reducing the delay in issuance of Pension Payment Orders (PPOs)/ePPOs, an official statement issued on Tuesday said.

"It has been clarified that no pension can be delayed for the want of vigilance clearance as per the specific provisions under Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021," it said.

It has been underlined that each ministry/department should ensure that vigilance clearance in respect of their retiring employees is issued within three months prior to retirement, said the statement issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

The key policy measures for systemic improvement are digitisation of service records, universalisation of Bhavishya (system provides online tracking of pension sanction and payment process), appointment of an inter-ministerial oversight committee in Department of Pensions and Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW) and line ministries and handholding of pensioners through introduction of pension mitras/welfare officers in all the departments, it said.

It has been expressly emphasised that Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) should include e-PPOs also thereby giving further impetus to the digitisation process in the area of pension processing, the statement said.

The requirement for business process re-engineering within each ministry/department has also been underscored, it said.

The digitisation of service records through universalisation of e-HRMS (electronic-human resource management system) for all ministries and departments would be instrumental in reducing mistakes and substantial reduction in processing timelines, the Centre said.

Robust inter-ministerial Oversight Mechanism (OSM) for Bhavishya will be introduced for monitoring the processes so that the time limits, prescribed for each of the stakeholders, are followed scrupulously, it said.

"It will include setting up of High-Level Oversight Committee (HLOC), comprising of Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Director General (CGHS), Director General (NIC), Pr CCA/CCA (MHA), Pr CCA/CCA(MoF) and CPAO as its members, with Secretary (Pension) as chairperson," the statement said.

Along with this mechanism, the nodal officers (not below the rank of Joint Secretary or equivalent) and pension disbursing banks will be nominated for oversight in the concerned ministry/department/bank, it said.

The oversight mechanism would be strengthened by introducing auto-flagging and auto-escalation of cases, pending beyond prescribed timelines through technological upgradation in the Bhavishya portal, the statement said.

"A welfare officer or pension mitra would be deputed by the Head of Office (HOO) with each retiring employee to facilitate filling up of forms and other formalities. He/she shall also be responsible for handholding the dependents for documentation and verification in the event of death of the pensioner while submitting the claim for family pension," it said.

With these interventions, the government seeks to achieve the stated objective of ensuring 'issue of PPOs /e-PPO 60 days before the retirement, payment of retirement dues a day after the retirement date and payment of first pension on the last day of following month of retirement' for all central civil services employees, retiring on superannuation, the statement said.

President of the All India NPS Employees Federation, Manjeet Singh Patel, said these fresh guidelines would be very beneficial for employees and would help them get their retirement related dues promptly.