Railway Services (Pension) Rules: RBE No.41/2005 – 2nd Amendment
No.F(E)III/2003/PN1/1, dated 10.03.2005
NOTIFICATION
S.O.1001:- In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to article 309 of the Constitution, the President hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, 1993, namely:-
1. (1) These rules may be called the Railway Services (Pension) (Second Amendment) Rules, 2005.
(2) They shall be deemed to have come into force from the 30th day of September, 2000.
2. In the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, 1993, after rule 53, the following rule shall be inserted, namely:-
“53 A. Conditions for payment of pension on absorption consequent upon conversion of a Railway Department into a Central autonomous body or a public sector undenaking:-
(1) On conversion of a Department of the Railway into a public sector undertaking or an autonomous body, all Railway servants of that Department shall be transferred en-mass to that public sector undertaking or autonomous body, as the case may be, on terms of foreign service without any deputation allowance till such time they get absorbed in the said undertaking or body, as the case may be, and such transferred Railway servants shall be absorbed in the public sector undcrtaking or autonomous body, as the ease may be, with effect from such date as may be notified by the Government.
(2) The Government shall allow the transferred Railway servants as option to revert to the railway or to seek permanent absorption in the public sector undertaking or autonomous body, as the case may be.
(3) The option referred to in sub-rule (2) shall be exercised by every transferred Railway servant in such manner and within such period as may be specified by the Government.
(4) The permanent absorption of the Railway servants as employees of the public sector undertaking or autonomous body shall take effect from the date on which their options are accepted by the Government and from the date of such acceptance, such employees shall cease to be the Railway servants and they shall be deemed to have retired from railway service.
(5) Upon absorption of Railway servants in the public sector undertaking or autonomous body, the posts which they were holding in the Government before such absorption shall stand abolished.
(6) The employees who opt to revert to railway service shall be re-deployed through the surplus cell of the Railway.
(7) The employees including temporary employees but excluding casual labourers, who opt for permanent absorption in the public sector undertaking or autonomous body, shall, on and from the date of absorption, be governed by the rules and regulations or bye-laws of the public sector undertaking or autonomous body, as the case may be.
(8) A permanent Railway servant who has been absorbed as an employee of a public sector undertaking or autonomous body, as the case may be, shall be eligible for pensionary benefits on the basis of combined service rendered by him or her in the railways and in the public sector undertaking or autonomous body in accordance with the formula for calculation of pension or family pension under these rules as may be in force at the time of his retirement from the public sector undertaking or autonomous body, as the case may be.
Explanation:- The amount of pension or family pension of the absorbed employee on superannuation from public sector undertaking or autonomous body, as the case may be, shall be calculated in the same way as would be the case with a Railway servant, retiring on superannuation, on the same day.
(9) The pension of an employee under sub-rule (8) shall be calculated on the basis of his last ten months’ average pay.
(10) In addition to pension or family pension, as the case may be, the employees shall also be eligible to dearness relief as per industrial dearness allowance pattern.
(11) The benefits of pension and family pension shall be available to temporary transferred Railway servants after they have been confirmed in the public sector undertaking or autonomous body.
(12) A permanent Railway servant absorbed in a public sector undertaking or autonomous body, or a temporary Railway servant who has been confirmed in the public sector undenaking or autonomous body subsequent to his or her absorption therein, shall be eligible to seek voluntary retirement after completing ten years of qualifying service with the Government and the autonomous body or public sector undertaking taken together, and he or she shall be eligible for pro rata pensionary benefits on the basis of combined qualifying service.
(13) The Government shall create a Pension Fund in the form of a trust and the pensionary benefits of absorbed employees shall be paid out of such Pension Fund.
(14) The Member Staff, Railway Board shall be the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees which shall include representatives of the Ministries of Finance, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Labour, concerned public sector undertaking or autonomous body and their employees and experts in the relevant field to be nominated by the Government.
(15) The procedure and the manner in which pensionary benefits are to be sanctioned and disbursed from the Pension Fund shall be determined by the Government on the recommendation of the Board of Trustees.
(16) The Government shall discharge its pensionary liability by paying in lump sum as a one time payment to the Pension Fund the pro rata pension or service gratuity and retirement gratuity for the service rendered till the date of absorption of the Railway servant in the public sector undertaking or autonomous body.
(17) The manner of sharing the financiai liability on account of payment of pensionary benefits by the public sector undertaking or autonomous body shall be determined by the Government.
(18) Lump-sum amount of the pro rata pension shall be determined in accordance with the Table of the values in Appendix to the Railway Service (Commutation of Pension) Rules, 1993.
(19) The public sector undertaking or autonomous body, as the case may be, shall make pensionary contribution to the pension fund for the period of service to be rendered by the concerned employees under that undertaking or body at the rates as may be determined by the Board of Trustees so that the pension fund shall be self-supporting.
(20) If, for any financial or operational reason, the Trust is unable to discharge its liabilities fully from the pension fund and the public sector undertaking or autonomous body is also not in a position to meet the shortfall, the Government shall be liable to meet such expenditure and such expenditure shall be debited to either the Fund or to the public sector undertaking or autonomous body, as the case may be.
(21) Payments of pensionary benefits of the pensioners of a railway department on the date of conversion of it into a public sector undertaking or autonomous body shall continue to be the responsibility of the Government and the mechanism for sharing its liabilities on this account shall be determined by the Government.
(22) Upon conversion of a railway department into a public sector undertaking or autonomous body:-
(a) the balance of provident fund standing at the credit of the absorbed employees on the date of their absorption in the public sector undertaking or autonomous body shall, with the consent of such undertaking or body, be transferred to the new provident fund account of the employees in such undertaking or body, as the case may be;
(b) leave on average pay and leave on half average pay at the credit of the employees on the date of absorption shall stand transferred to such undertaking or body, as the case may be;
(c) the dismissal or removal from service of the public sector undertaking or autonomous body of any employee after his or her absorption in auch undertaking or body for any subsequent misconduct shall not amount to forfeiture of the retirement benefits for the service rendered under the railways and in the event of his dismissal or removal or retrenchment, the decisions of the undertaking or body shall be subject to confirmation by the Ministry of Railways.
(23) In case the Government disinvests its equity in any public sector undertaking or autonomous body to the extent of fifty-one per cent or more, it shall specify adequate safeguards for protecting the interests of the absorbed employees of such public sector undertaking or autonomous body.
(24) The safeguards specified under sub-rule (23) shall include option for voluntary retirement or continued service in the undertaking or body, as the case may be, or voluntary retirement benefits on terms applicable to Railway servants or employees of the public sector undertaking or autonomous body as per option of such servants or employees, assured payment of earned pensionary benefits with relaxation in period of qualifying service, as may be decided by the Government.”
Download Railway Board Circular RBE No.41/2005
Forward reference ⇒ RBE No.44/2012,