Family pension settlement if a retiree expires before filing pension papers: Govt finalizes process

For the processing of pension of a retiring government employee, Rule 59 of the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rule, 1972 is followed. As per the rules, the government employee has to submit the pension papers six months before the date of superannuation. However, it was found by the government that at times a government employee died after retirement without having submitted the pension papers. Now, the government has finalized a procedure that may be adopted for processing and sanction of pension in respect of the deceased retired government employee and for sanction of family pension to his or her family.

The claim of a government employee for pension accrues as soon as he retires from Government service. Similarly, the claim of the family for family pension accrues on the death of a government employee during service or after retirement.

But, if there no submission of pension papers within the period, the PPO does not get issued to the government employee after his retirement. This also makes it difficult to sanction family pension to the eligible member of the family of the deceased retired government employee. It is, therefore, important that the timeline for submission and processing of pension papers may be strictly adhered to avoid such situations.

In order to avoid any hardship to the family of a retired government employee, who dies without submitting the pension papers, it has been decided, in consultation with the office of Controller General of Accounts, that the following procedure may be adopted for processing of the case for sanction of pension in respect of the deceased retired government employee and for sanction of family pension to his/her family:-

i. The spouse of the deceased retired government employee or, in the absence of the spouse, a member of his/her family eligible for family pension, may submit the claim in Form 14 (Application for family pension on death of a Government servant/pensioner/family pensioner) along with Form 3 (Details of the family), to the Head of Office.

ii. The Head of Office shall process the case in Form 7 (Form for assessing pension, family pension, and gratuity) and send Form 7, Form 3, Form 14, Form 20 (Sanction for family pension on death of a pensioner/family pensioner) and a forwarding letter in Form 8 to the PAO for authorization of pension and family pension in respect of the deceased retired government employee.

iii. The PAO shall authorize the pension (in respect of the deceased retired Government servant) and family pension to the spouse/eligible family member. Only one PPO shall be issued by the PAO authorizing pension and family pension in Part-ll of the PPO. Part-lll of the PPO, which is applicable on the death of a government employee while in service, would not be relevant in such cases.