Guidelines For Timely Disposal Of Grievances For Central Government Pensioners

The union government of India has published guidelines for timely and qualitative disposal of the central government's Pensioners' Grievances. The Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW) under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, has released the guidelines.

DoPPW has a window interface for all central government pensioners for registering grievances related to any of the central government ministry or department or organization. These grievances are forwarded online to the particular ministry or department or organization for redressal. It is operated through the Centralized Pension Grievances Redress And Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS) Portal. DoPPW has now released the instructions or guidelines and has revised the time limit for redressal of grievances. The department has done this particularly for the priority target groups that are - family pensioners and super-senior pensioners. It is expected to promote good governance and will ensure the pensioners' rightful entitlements.

What does the new guideline say?

The Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 informs that every grievance related to pension and other retirement benefits shall be redressed by the concerned office from where the employee retired or served before death. Every office is responsible for pension sanction, revision, and payment of retirement benefits to its employees. Every grievance shall be disposed of within the ambit of extant rules, otherwise, a speaking order shall be issued.

All ministries or departments or organizations should strictly adhere to the time limit of 45 days for resolving the pensioners' grievances. If the grievance refers to a family pensioner or super-senior pensioner (aged 80 years and above) the time limit to resolve the grievance should be restricted to 30 days. A grievance can be closed only after the final resolution. If a grievance pertains to a subordinate or attached office, the case may be forwarded by the ministry or department to the concerned office. But until final action is taken, it cannot be closed. Additionally, the grievance shall not be closed for the want of any document from the pensioner. The concerned pensioner should be contacted on the mobile number or email (available in the CPENGRAM Portal) by the office. This will speed up the process. The ministries or departments or organizations shall dispose of the grievances after indicating that it is 'Accepted' or 'Rejected' or 'Partially Accepted.'

Re-registered cases will have to be disposed of by Appellate Authorities nominated in every ministry or department or organization. The core grievance-prone areas will have to be identified and streamline their systems.