Pension Rule No.91: Provisional Pension For Reasons Other Than Departmental Or Judicial Proceedings

91.  Provisional Pension For Reasons Other Than Departmental Or Judicial Proceedings:-

(1)   Where in spite of following the procedure laid down in rule 79, it is not possible for the Head of Office to forward the pension papers referred to in rule 81 to the Accounts Officer within the period specified in sub-rule (4) of that rule or where the pension papers have been forwarded to the Accounts Officer within the specified period but the Accounts Officer may have returned the pension papers to the Head of Office for eliciting further information before issuing pension payment order and order for the payment of gratuity and the Government servant is likely to retire before his pension and gratuity or both can be finally assessed and settled in accordance with the provisions of these rules, the Head of Office shall rely upon such information as may be available in the official records, and without delay, determine the amount of provisional pension and the amount of provisional retirement gratuity.

(2)   On receipt of Form 8, in a case of retirement otherwise than on superannuation, the Head of Office shall sanction provisional pension and also provisional retirement gratuity till issue of Pension Payment Order.

(3)   Where the amount of pension and gratuity cannot be determined for reasons other than the Departmental or Judicial proceedings, the Head of Office shall –

(a)   Issue a letter of sanction addressed to the railway servant endorsing a copy thereof to the Accounts Officer authorizing –

(i)  100 per cent of pension as provisional pension for a period not exceeding six months to be reckoned from the date of retirement of the railway servant; and

(ii) 100 per cent. of the gratuity as provisional gratuity withholding that part of gratuity as provided in these rules.

(b)   Specify in the letter of sanction the amount recoverable from the gratuity under sub-rule (1) of rule 83 and after issuing the letter of sanction referred to in clause (a), the Head of Office shall draw –

(i) The amount of provisional pension; and

(ii) The amount of provisional gratuity after deducting therefrom the amount specified in sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) and the dues, if any, specified in rule 15, in the same manner as pay and allowances of the establishment are drawn by him.

(4)   The amount of provisional pension and gratuity payable under sub-rule (2) or sub-rule (3) shall, if necessary, be revised on the completion of the detailed scrutiny of the records.

(5)   (a)   The payment of provisional pension shall not continue beyond the period of six months from the date of retirement of a railway servant or from the date of submission of Form 8 by the railway servant, whichever is later, and if the amount of final pension and the amount of final gratuity had been determined by the Head of Office in consultation with the Accounts Officer before the expiry of said period of six months, the Accounts Officer shall –

(i) Issue the pension payment order and,

(ii) Direct the Head of Office to draw and disburse the difference between the final amount of gratuity and the amount of provisional gratuity paid under sub-clause (ii) of clause (b) of sub-rule (3) after adjusting the Government or Railway dues, if any, which may have come to notice after the payment of provisional gratuity.

(b)   If the amount of provisional pension disbursed to a railway servant under sub-rule (3) is, on its final assessment, found to be in excess of the final pension assessed by the Accounts Officer, it shall be open to the Accounts Officer to adjust the excess amount of pension out of gratuity withheld under sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) sub-rule (3) or recover the excess amount of pension in installments by making short payments of the pension payable in future.

(c)   (i) If the amount of provisional gratuity disbursed by the Head of Office under sub-rule (3) is more than the amount finally assessed, the retired railway servant shall not be required to refund the excess amount actually disbursed to him.

(ii) The Head of Office shall ensure that chances of disbursing the amount of gratuity in excess of the amount finally assessed are minimized and the officials responsible for the excess payment shall be accountable for the over- payment.

(6)   If the final amount of pension and gratuity has not been determined by the Head of Office in consultation with the Accounts Officer within a period of six months referred to in clause (a) of sub-rule (5), the Accounts Officer shall treat the provisional pension and gratuity as final and issue pension payment order immediately on the expiry of the period of six months.

(7)   As soon as the pension payment order has been issued by the Accounts Officer under clause (a) of sub-rule (5) or sub-rule (6), the Head of Office shall release the amount of withheld gratuity under sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) of sub-rule (3) to the retired railway servant after adjusting Government or Railway dues which may have come to notice after the payment of provisional gratuity under sub-clause (ii) of clause (b) of sub-rule (3).

(8)   If a railway servant is or was an allottee of Government or Railway accommodation, the withheld amount should be paid on receipt of No Demand Certificate from the Directorate of Estates or on vacation of Railway accommodation, as the case may be.

[Authority: RBE No.70/2016, No.2015/F(E)III/1(1)/4, 17.06.2016]