Annual service verification statements to be issued to Government Servants

It shall be the duty of every Head of Office to initiate action to show the Service Books to the Government servants under his administrative control every year [ DopT Order No.18019/7/2013-Estt. (L) Dated the 23 October, 2013 ]

The undersigned is directed to invite attention to the provisions of the Supplementary Rules which relate to maintaining records of service of a Government employee. The provisions of SR199 and 202 require that “Every step in a Government servant’s official life must be recorded in his Service Book and each entry must be attested by the Head of his Office….” (SR199) and that “It shall be the duty of every Head of Office to initiate action to show the Service Books to the Government servants under his administrative control every year. The Government servants shall inter alia ensure that their services have been duly verified and certified as such….’ (SR 202).

Further, the provisions of Rule 32 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 provide for issuing a communication in Form-24 on completion of 18 years of service regarding verification and determination of qualifying service. The Rule 59 thereof relates to the preparatory work to be done by the Head of Office for sanctioning pensionaly benefits to the retiring employee. Attention is also invited to this Department’s OM No. 17011/19-Estt.(L) dated 11-03-2008, whereby the revised format of the Service Book was circulated for being adopted. The said revised format also indudes Part V whereunder the record of verification of service is to be maintained.

It has since been brought to the notice of this Department that the aforesaid provisions of the Supplementary Rules as also the provisions of the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972 as referred to above are not being followed. Consequently, the gaps in service verification, get detected at a very late stage when the concerned Government servant is due to retire on attaining the age of superannuation.

In view of this and with the objective of eliminating delays in processing of cases of retiring Government Servants, the aforementioned rules and the instructions of this Department are reiterated and it is stated that it may be ensured that the following are strictly adhered to:

(i) The record of verification of service may henceforth be maintained only in Part V of the revised format of the Service Book as per the new format prescribed by this Department’s aforesaid CM of 11-03-2008

(ii) The exercise for ensuring completion of the entries of service verification in the Part V of the new format, in respect of employees who are retiring within five years, may be undertaken Immediately, by the concerned administrative authorities and concluded within a defined time frame, as may be worked out by such authority.

(iii) Any gap in the verification of service may be intimated to the employee concerned, and simultaneously appropriate action for ensuring verification of missing spells may be taken by the Head of Office.

(iv) The concerned Government servant may also be informed of deficiencies and gaps as regards missing entries relating to verification of service and the period thereof.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare have also suggested that the administrative authorities, to preclude and to cut down on delays in payment of retiral benefits to Government servants retiring of superannuation, may consider adoption of the following mechanisms and processes, in consultation with their PAOs:

(I) Annual service verification statements may be considered to be issued along with pay slip for the month of April every year.

(ii) At the time of transfer from one Ministry! Department/Office to another, any gap in the service record including for prior periods under the administrative control of the Ministry/Department/Office will be indicated in the Last Pay Certificate.

(iii) Creation & Maintenance of Service Records in e-format available in e-Office under e-governance.

All Ministries! Departments are accordingly requested to issue suitable instructions to all Heads of Offices/Pay & Accounts Offices for strict compliance of the above instructions so as to preclude any delays in disbursement of retiral benefits of Government servants. It may be reiterated and again stressed that the action as indicated in para 4 of this OM may be taken immediately by prioritising the up-dation of service verification details in respect of such Government servants who are due to retire on attaining the age of superannuation in the next five (5) years, by working out a time bound schedule. In the second phase, the verification of service of all remaining employees in the prescribed format may be completed.

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