SPOUSE OF A PENSIONER WHO DIED DURING THE PANDEMIC COVID -19 PROVISIONAL FAMILY PENSION PAYMENT

PROVISIONAL FAMILY PENSION

Payment of a Provisional Family Pension to the spouse of a pensioner who died as a result of the pandemic Covid-19 BPS sends a letter to the Hon’ble Minister.

BHARAT PENSIONERS SAMAJ
(All India Federation of Pensioners Associations)

No. BPS/SG/FP/Pensioner/2 1/5

Dated the 19th May 2021

DR. JITENDRA SINGH
HON’BLE MINISTER OF STATE
M/O PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS

Reg: PAYMENT OF PROVISIONAL FAMILY PENSION TO THE SPOUSE OF PENSIONER DIED DURING PANDEMIC COVID -19.

Respected Sir,

Bharat Pensioners Samaj, while appreciating the various welfare measures undertaken by the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare under your leadership, seek your intervention to mitigate the suffering of spouses of pensioners who died during the Covid -19 period.

Sir, we with a heavy heart bring to your kind notice that, during this second wave, many of the Central Government pensioners have succumbed to Corona. In a bid to curb the spread of the novel Corona Virus in the country, many of the State Governments have declared lockdown for a period ranging from 15 days to a month or two. During this lockdown period, the concerned State Governments have issued guidelines to the offices and also Central Government offices, in their respective States, to function with bare minimum staff. As a result of this, spouses of pensioners, who died due to Covid or any other reasons, may not able to submit Form No. 14, duly filled and signed with all the relevant documents, in view of the lockdown declared by the Government and in the absence of functioning of government offices with full strength, there may be a delay in their submission of Family Pension Application, which, in tum, may result in a delay in getting their family pension sanctioned.

As you are aware, only Central Government employees/pensioners, who are residing in areas where CGHS Wellness Centres and CGHS empanelled Hospitals exist, can avail CGHS facilities in the empanelled hospitals . During this pandemic, other Central Government employees/pensioners are being denied admission in the CGHS empanelled hospitals when they are inflicted by Covid or for any other reasons when they desire to get admission using CGHS Card. In view of this, many Central Government employees/pensioners/family pensioners, during this pandemic, had to meet hospitalisation expenses from their own savings. Consequent to death of employees/pensioners, due to Covid or any other health reasons, their spouses or family members are not only put to financial hardship having spent huge sum towards hospitalisation expenses, but also due to the delay in getting their family pension consequent to the delay in submission of Form No. 14 (Family Pension Application) along with all the required documents. Having spent their savings towards hospitalisation, pensioners’ spouses may find difficulties in meeting their day to day expenses and medical needs, if there is delay in getting their family pension.

In this connection, we wish to bring to your kind attention that, in order to avoid any hardship to the family of the deceased Government servant, the Government has relaxed the provisions of Rule 80-A of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, – vide its OM dated 29.7.2020(copy enclosed) to the extent that if a claim for family pension in Form 14 along with death certificate and bank account details of the claimant has been received and the Head of Office is satisfied about the bonafide of the claim, he shall sanction provisional family pension immediately in the case of death of a Government servant during service and that the amount of provisional family pension shall not exceed the maximum family pension as admissible under Rule 54 of CCS Pension Rules, 1972. As the concerned Pension Sanctioning Authority would have authorised for payment of family pension to his or her spouse in the PPO issued to him or her at the time of issuing Pension Payment Order to him/her, provisional family pension can be sanctioned pending receipt of Family Pension Application (Form No. 14), duly filled and signed with all the relevant documents for further processing and sanctioning of Family Pension.

Considering the hardship faced by the pensioner’s spouses, if the family pension is not sanctioned immediately, especially during this COVD 19 pandemic and also in normal course, we request your good self to consider sanctioning of provisional family pension to the spouses of pensioners, who have succumbed to Corona or due to any other diseases during this pandemic , just as has been done in the case of death of a Government servant during service in terms of Dop& PW OM dated 27.7.2020, on receipt of a request on a plain paper for sanction of provisional family pension along with Doctor’s Certificate relating to death with copies of Aadhar card/Pension Payment Order/first page of pass book, pending submission of Form No.14 along with other relevant documents.

Kindly cause to issue necessary orders, in this regard, at the earliest.

Thanking you,

With regards
Yours faithfully,

For Bharat Pensioners Samaj
S.C. MAHESHWARI
SECRETARY-GENERAL

Will pending Dearness Allowance be paid to central government employees on July 1? Here you can find the most recent updates

Will pending Dearness Allowance be paid to central government employees on July 1? Here you can find the most recent updates

The central government employees and pensioners will now have to wait a bit longer as the meeting of the National Council of JCM, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Ministry of Finance (Department of Expenditure) officials have been postponed due to the ongoing Covid pandemic.

7th Pay Commission Latest News: Central government employees who are waiting for an announcement on Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief, here is a major update for you. The Central government had in March last stated that Dearness allowance (DA) of central employees and Dearness Relief (DR) for pensioners would be resumed from 1 July 2021. However, the central government employees and pensioners will now have to wait a bit longer as the meeting of the National Council of JCM, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Ministry of Finance (Department of Expenditure) officials have been postponed due to the ongoing Covid pandemic.

As per the latest updates, the meeting between the National Council of JCM and the officials at the DoPT and the Ministry of Finance (Department of Expenditure) to discuss the 7th central Pay Commission matrix issue was supposed to be held on 8 May 2021. It will now happen in the last week of May 2021.

In this pandemic time, the Central employees and pensioners are receiving only 17 percent dearness benefit, which may increase to 28 percent, resulting in a significant increase in the 7th CPC salary.

Earlier, Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance, had stated that the three instalments of dearness allowance will commence to be paid on July 1, 2021. Thakur had also claimed in a report submitted to the Upper House of Parliament about the payment of DA that the three pending DA instalments of Central Government employees will be subsumed and that the modified DA rates will take effect on July 1, 2021.

If the DA rates come into effect from July 1, nearly 50 lakh central government employees and more than 65 lakh pensioners will benefit from the decision of the Central government.

Dearness Allowance is an important component of salary which is a fixed percentage of an employee’s basic salary. Likewise, the Dearness Relief is computed with reference to basic pension or family pension of the pensioner.