Payment of provisional pension extended up to a period of 1-year, Details Inside

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, Union Minister Jitendra Singh announced on Wednesday that the government has agreed to extend the payment of provisional pension for up to a year from the date of retirement of an employee. According to a report published by the Personnel Ministry, he stated that provisional family pension was also liberalised during an online meeting with senior officers of the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW) and the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). According to Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, orders were given that family pension must be sanctioned immediately upon receipt of a family pension application and death certificate from an eligible family member, rather than waiting for the application to be forwarded to the Pay and Accounts Office, the statement said.

In order to alleviate suffering for the families of such government employees, directives have been issued for the issuance of Pension Payment Orders for the release of pension arrears from the date of retirement until the date of death of the retired government employee in all such circumstances, as well as for the issuance of family pension to the family member from the date of death, according to the report. Similarly, directives have been released to extend the benefit of lump-sum compensation to NPS workers if they suffer a disability in the course of service and are continued in Government service despite the disability, according to Dr Jitendra Singh. A lump-sum compensation is provided in place of the disability aspect of the disability pension to a Government servant who suffers a disability due to an injury or illness in the course of duty and is continued in Government service despite such disablement, according to the CCS (EOP) Rules. Furthermore, the concern was undertaken with the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) to issue necessary directives to CPAO and CPPCs of banks to employ electronic modes during the abnormal situation of the COVID-19 pandemic until normalcy returns, to ensure timely credit of pension in instances where PPO (Pension Payment Order) has been issued but not provided to CPAO or banks due to lock-down.

Government employees have died after retirement without filing their pension papers in some instances. In order to alleviate suffering for the families of such Government employees, orders have been issued for the issuance of Pension Payment Orders for the release of pension arrears (from the date of retirement until the date of death of the retired Government employee) in all such situations, as well as the issuance of family pension to the family member from the date of death. Under the legal Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, the DoPPW has instructed all Pension Disbursing Banks to follow the video-based customer identification process (V-CIP) as an additional facility for receiving a life certificate from pensioners. According to the statement, UCO Bank has been a leader in this field.