Family pension, death gratuity to the family on death of a Government servant during service

DoPPW has issued an Office Memorandum on 3rd June 2021 regrading Payment of family pension, death gratuity and other dues to the family on death of a Government servant during service

The content of the Order is given below

Family pension, Gratuity and other entitlements to the family of the deceased employees

The undersigned is directed to say that the Covid-19 pandemic has claimed lives of several Government employees during the recent surge. In many cases, the deceased employees were the sole bread-winners of their family and the casualties have left families devastated and in an urgent need for funds for livelihood. It is, therefore, incumbent on the Government to ensure that the family pension and other entitlements in respect of the deceased employees are released to their families expeditiously.

2. The completion of the process for sanction of family pension and its disbursement through the Bank may take some time, as it involves reference to PAO and CPAO. To deal with such situations, Rule 80-A of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 provides for payment of provisional family pension and also provisional death gratuity, pending issue of the Pension Payment Order (PPO).
3. Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has issued instructions vide OM No. 1/11/2020-P&PW (E) dated 29th July, 2020 for sanction of provisional family pension by the Head of Office immediately on receipt of a claim for family pension and death certificate from the eligible family member, without waiting for forwarding of the family pension case to Pay & Accounts Office (PAO). Rule 80-A provides for payment of provisional death gratuity by the Head of Office once the family pension/death gratuity case has been forwarded to the PAO.
4. In view of the above, all Ministries/Departments and their attached and subordinate offices are requested to strictly comply with the rules/instructions as brought out above and to ensure that payment of provisional family pension is commenced by the Head of Office immediately on receipt of the claim (with death certificate) from the eligible family member and payment of provisional death gratuity is made to the nominees/family members immediately after forwarding the case to the PAO.
5. Simultaneously, the action may be taken on priority basis for disbursement of regular family pension through the Bank and for payment of other entitlements of the family on death of the Government servant. It may be ensured that the PPO for family pension is issued and disbursement of regular family pension is commenced by the Bank not later than one month of the receipt of the claim for family pension.
6. For facilitating expeditious disbursement of all the entitlements of the family on death of a Government servant, two separate notes- one in respect of the employees under Old Pension Scheme and the other in respect of the employees under National Pension System – are also enclosed as Annexure-I and Annexure-II, respectively.
7. All Ministries/Departments and their attached and subordinate offices will submit a monthly statement on 5th of every month to the Secretary of the Administrative Department in the following format:

8. A consolidated statement in respect of the Ministry/Department and its attached and subordinate offices may be sent by each Ministry/Department to this Department by 10th of each month.

(संजय शंकर)
भारत सरकार के उप सचिव
टेलीफोन-24644632

Annexure- 1

ENTITLEMENTS OF FAMILY ON DEATH OF A GOVERNMENT SERVANT DURING SERVICE

(1) Entitlements of family on death of a Government servant under Old Pension Scheme

A. Family Pension :

Amount : 50% of last pay for a period of 10 years from the date following the date of death. Thereafter @ 30% of last pay.

(Enhanced family pension @50% of pay is payable for 10 years in all cases without reference to the length of service of the deceased employee, as per amended Rule 54(3))

Eligibility of family members : : Family pension will be paid to members of family in the following order:;-

• A child (other than a child suffering from a mental or physical disability) and parents shall be eligible, if their income from other sources is less than the minimum family pension (i.e. Rs. 9000/- p.m.) plus dearness relief thereon.

** A child or sibling suffering from a mental or physical disability shall be eligible if their overall income from other sources is less than the entitled family pension admissible on death of Government servant plus dearness relief thereon.

Documents required to be submitted by the claimant for family pension : (i) Application in Form 14, (ii) a copy of death certificate, (iii) proof of relationship, (iv) proof of date of birth, (v) copy of first page of the Pass Book, (vi) copy of PAN card. (vii) Specimen signature and (viii) PP size photographs

Action to be taken By HOO:

• Sanction provisional family pension to eligible family member immediately on receipt of claim, without waiting for forwarding of case to PAO or authorisation by PAO. (Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare’s OM No. 1/11/2020-P&PW (E) dated 29th July, 2020)
• Separately, process the case for family pension and death gratuity in Bhavishya and forward the case to PAO in Form 18 along with other documents for further processing/authorisation. (Rule 80)
• Government dues such as HBA, licence fee, etc. are to be recovered from death gratuity.

B. Death Gratuity:

Maximum amount of death gratuity : Rs. 20 lakh.

Eligibility:

• Gratuity is to be paid to the family member(s)/person(s) in whose favour a valid nomination exists. If there are more than one nominee, amount of gratuity shall be shared by all nominees as specified in the nomination.
• If a nominee has pre-deceased the Government servant, then the gratuity is to be paid to the alternate nominee(s), if any, mentioned in the nomination form.
• If there is no nomination or the nomination made does not subsist, the amount of gratuity is to be equally shared among spouse, son(s), unmarried daughter(s) and widowed daughter(s).
• If none of these family members is available, the amount of gratuity is to be equally divided among other family members, i.e. father, mother, married daughters, brothers below 18 years, unmarried/widowed sisters and children of a pre-deceased son.
• Succession certificate is not to be asked for unless there is no valid nomination and also none of the family members mentioned above is available.

Documents required to be submitted by the claimant for gratuity : (i) Application in Form 12, (ii) Death certificate, (iii) copy of PAN card, (iv)copy of first page of bank pass book and (v) proof of relationship.

Action By HOO:

• Process the case for death gratuity (along with family pension) in Bhavishya and forward the case to PAO in Form 18 along with other documents for further processing/authorisation.
• Sanction provisional death gratuity in accordance with Rule 80-A, after forwarding the case to PAO

C. Cash equivalent of leave salary (Leave Encashment)

As per Rule 39-A of CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, cash equivalent of leave salary for earned leave not exceeding 300 days is payable to the family. If the earned leave in the credit of the deceased Government servant is less than 300 days, half pay leave is encashed to the extent the earned leave is short of 300 days.

Eligibility : One of the available family members in this order -> Spouse, eldest surviving son, eldest surviving unmarried daughter, eldest surviving widowed daughter, father/mother, eldest surviving married daughter, eldest surviving brother below the age of eighteen years, eldest surviving unmarried sister, eldest surviving widowed sister; eldest child of the eldest predeceased son.

Leave encashment is processed/sanctioned by HOO on receipt of death certificate without seeking any application for this purpose.

D. Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS)

Amount : In addition to the amount standing in the Savings Fund of CGEGIS, an amount of Rs. 1,20,000, Rs. 60,000/- and Rs. 30000/- is paid to the family of the deceased employee belonging to Group A, Group B and Group C, respectively.

Eligibility of family members :

• CGEGIS amount is payable to family member(s)/person(s) in whose favour a valid nomination exists.
• In the absence of a nomination, the amount is paid to the family members eligible as per the rules applicable for payment of death gratuity.
• The claim for CGEGIS is processed/sanctioned on receipt of death certificate without seeking any application for this purpose.

E. General Provident Fund (GPF)

• On receipt of the death certificate, the balance in the GPF account of the deceased Government is sanctioned to the family member(s)/person(s) in whose favour a valid nomination exists. In the absence of a nomination, GPF balance is paid to the family members eligible as per GPF Rules.
• As per the Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme under Rule 33-B of the GPF Rules, in addition to the GPF balance, an additional amount equal to the average balance in the GPF account during the 3 years immediately preceding the death of the Government is also paid, subject to the conditions that the balance at the credit did not, at any time during the three years preceding the month of death, fall below the limits mentioned in Rule 33-B.
• The additional amount to be paid shall not exceed Rs. 60,000/-.
• The claims for GPF/DLIS are to be processed/sanctioned by the office on receipt of death certificate.

Annexure-2

Entitlements of family on death of a Government servant under National Pension System

(1) Entitlements of family on death of a Government servant under National Pension System who had opted for benefits under Old Pension Scheme or in whose case, no option was exercised and the default option is Old Pension Scheme

Family Pension : Same as under Old Pension Scheme.

In addition, employee’s contributions and returns thereon in the NPS pension Corpus shall also be paid to the family member. HOO will start process to sanction family pension and simultaneously close PRAN under NPS and Government contribution (and returns thereon) would be transferred into the Government account. Remaining amount would be paid in lump sum to the nominee or legal heir as per PFRDA regulations.

Death Gratuity : Same as under Old Pension Scheme

Cash equivalent of leave salary (Leave Encashment) : Same as under Old Pension Scheme

Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) : Same as under Old Pension Scheme

(2) Entitlements of family on death of a Government servant under National Pension System:

(i) who had specifically opted for benefits under NPS based on accumulated pension corpus or

(ii) who had opted for Old Pension Scheme or in whose case default option is Old Pension Scheme but there is no family member eligible for family pension under Old Pension Scheme

Benefits based on NPS Corpus: Concerned office would take action to close PRAN under NPS of the deceased Government servant and grant benefits of lump sum (maximum 20% of accumulated pension wealth) and annuity from the remaining pension wealth to the eligible family member from annuity service provider registered with PFRDA, in accordance with PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals under NPS) Regulations, 2015

Death Gratuity : Same as under Old Pension Scheme

Cash equivalent of leave salary (Leave Encashment ) : Same as under Old Pension Scheme

Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) : Same as under Old Pension Scheme.

View the Order Copy