Chapter IX - Family Pension and Death-cum-retirement gratuity in respect of railway servant dying while in service

Chapter IX - Family Pension and Death-cum-retirement gratuity in respect of railway servant dying while in service

92. Obtaining of claims for family pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity : (1) Where the Head of Office has received an intimation about the death of a railway servant while in service, he shall ascertain whether any death-cum-retirement gratuity or family pension or both is or are payable in respect of such deceased railway servant. 

            (2)        (a)        Where the family of the deceased railway servant is eligible for the death-cum-retirement  gratuity  under  rule  70,  the Head of Office shall ascertain: - 

                                    (i)         if the deceased railway servant had nominated any person or persons to receive the gratuity; and 

                                    (ii)        if the deceased railway servant had not made any 
            nomination or the nomination made does not subsist, the person or persons to whom the gratuity may be payable. 

                        (b)        The Head of Office shall, than, address the person concerned in Form 11 or Form 12, as may be appropriate for making a claim in Form 13. 

            (3)        Where the family of the deceased railway servant eligible under rule 75 for the Family Pension, 1964

(a)        the Head of Office shall address the widow or widower in Form 14 for making a claim in Form 10, and 

(b)        where he deceased railway servant is survived only by a child or children, the guardian of such child or children, may submit a claim in Form 10 to the Head of Office; 

            Provided that the guardian shall not be required to submit a claim in the said Form on behalf of a child who had attained the age of eighteen years and such child may himself or herself submit a claim in the said Form. 

93.       Completion of Form 16: (1)    (a) The Head of Office while taking action to obtain claim or claims from the family in accordance with the provisions of rule 92 shall simultaneously undertake the completion of Form 16. The work shall be completed within one month of the date on which intimation regarding the death of the railway servant has been received. 

                        (b)        The Head of Office shall go through the service book of the deceased railway servant and satisfy himself as to whether certificates of verification of service for the entire service are recorded therein. 

                        (c)        If there are any periods of unverified service, the Head of Office shall accept the unverified portion of service as verified on the basis of the available entries in the service book. For this purpose the Head of Office may rely on any other relevant material to which he may have ready access. While accepting the unverified portion of service, the Head of Office may rely on any other relevant material to which he may have ready access. While accepting the unverified portion of service, the Head of Office shall ensure that service was continuous and was not forfeited on account of dismissal, removal or resignation from service, or for the participation in strike. 

            (2)        (a)        For the purpose of determination of emoluments for family pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity, the Head of Office shall confine the verification of the correctness of emoluments for a maximum period of one year preceding the date of death of the railway servant. 

                        (b)        In case the railway servant was on extraordinary leave on the date of death, the correctness of the emoluments for a maximum period of one year which he drew preceding the date of the ommencement of the extraordinary leave shall be verified. 

            (3)        The process of determination of qualifying service and qualifying emoluments shall be completed within one month of the receipt of intimation regarding the date of death of the railway servant and the amount of family pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity shall also be calculated accordingly. 

94.       Determination of the amount of family pension and gratuity where service records are incomplete: According to the instruction in vogue on the date of commencement of these rules, there should not be any case where service book has not been maintained properly. If, in any particular case the service book has not been maintained properly despite the Government’s order on the subject, and it is not possible for the Head of Office to accept the unverified portion of service as verified on the basis of entries in the service book, the Head of Office shall not proceed with the verification of the entire spell of service and the verification of service in such a case shall be confined to the following spells of service: - 

(i)         If the deceased railway servant on the date of death had rendered more than one year of service but less than seven years of servicethe service and emoluments for the last year of service shall be verified and accepted by the Head of Office and the amount of family pension 1964 determined under sub-rule (2) and sub-rule (3) of rule 75. 

(ii)        If the deceased railway servant on the date of his death had rendered more than seven years of service, the service for the last seven years and emoluments for service rendered in the last year shall be verified and accepted by the Head of Office and the amount of Family Pension 1964 and the period for which it is payable shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (3) of rule 75

(iii)       If the deceased railway servant on the date of his death had rendered more than seven years of service, the service for the last seven years and emoluments for service rendered in the last year shall be verified and accepted by the Head of Office and the amount of Family Pension 1964 and the period for which it is payable shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (2) and sub-rule (3) of rule 75. 

(iv)       The service for the last seven years shall be verified and within the next two months and the amount of family pension at the enhanced rate and the period for which it is payable shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (4) of rule 75. 

(v)        The determination of the amount of family pension in accordance with the provisions of sub-clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) shall be done within one month of the receipt of intimation of the date of death of the railway servant. 

            (b)        For the purpose of death-cum-retirement gratuity: - 

(i)         If the deceased railway servant had on the date of his death rendered more than five years of qualifying service but less than twenty four years of qualifying service, and the spell of last five years’ service has been verified and accepted by the Head of Office under clause (a), the amount of death-cum-retirement gratuity shall be equal to twelve times of his emoluments as indicated in clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of rule 70, where the verified and accepted service is less than five years of qualifying service, the amount of death-cum-retirement gratuity shall be the amount as indicated in item (i) or item (ii) in the Table below clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of rule 70 as the case may be. 

(ii)        If the deceased railway servant had rendered more than twenty four years of service and the entire service is not capable of being verified and accepted but the service for the last five years has been verified and accepted, under sub-clause (1), the family of the deceased railway servant shall be allowed, on provisional basis, the death-cum-retirement gratuity equal to twelve times of the emoluments. Final amount of gratuity shall be determined by the Head of Office on the acceptance and verification of the entire spell of service which shall be done by the Head of Office within a period of six months from the date on which the authority for the payment of provisional gratuity was issued. The balance, if any, becoming payable as a result of determination of the final amount of death-cum-retirement gratuity shall then be authorised to the beneficiaries. 

95.       Forwarding of papers to the Accounts Officer :  (1) On receipt of claim or claims, the Head of Office shall complete items 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 of Form 16 and send the said Form 17 along with the railway servant’s service book duly complete up-to-date and any other documents relied upon for the verification of the service claimed. This shall be done not later than one month of the receipt of claim by the Head of Office. 

            (2)        The Head of Office shall retain one copy of the aforesaid Form 16 for his office record. 

            (3)        If the payment is desired in another circle of accounting unit, Form 16 shall be sent in duplicate to the Account Officer. 

            (4)        The Head of Office shall draw the attention of the Accounts Officer to the details of Government or railway dues outstanding against the deceased railway servant, namely: - 

(a)        Government or railway dues as ascertained and assessed in terms of rule 15 and recoverable out of the gratuity before payment is authorised. 

(b)        Amount of gratuity to be held over partly for adjustment of railway dues which have not been assessed so far and partly as a margin for adjustment in the light of the final determination of the gratuity.           

            (5)        (a)        If Form 16 has been completed and the claim or claims in the respective Forms have not been received from the beneficiary or beneficiaries, the Head of Office shall forward Form 16 and the documents referred to in sub-rule (1) to the Accounts Officer leaving unfilled items 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 of Part I of the said Form. 

                        (b)        As soon as the claim or claims are received by the Head of Office,  they shall immediately be forwarded to the Accounts Officer with the request that items 20, 22, 23 and 24 of Part I of Form, 16 may be filled by the Accounts Officer. 

96.       Sanction, drawl and disbursement of provisional Family Pension and gratuity: (1) After the documents referred to in rule 95 have been sent to the Accounts Officer concerned, the Head of Office shall draw provisional family pension not exceeding the maximum family pension and hundred per cent of the gratuity as determined in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter and, for this purpose the Head of Office, shall adopt the following procedure, namely: - 

(a)        he shall issue a sanction letter in favour of claimant or claimants endorsing a copy thereof to the Accounts Officer concerned indicating the amount of provisional family pension and hundred percent of the gratuity as determined; 

(b)        he shall indicate in the sanction letter the amount recoverable out of the gratuity under sub-rule (4) of rule 95; 

                        (c)        after issue of the sanction letter he shall draw: - 

                                    (i)         the amount of the provisional family pension; and                       

(ii)        the amount of hundred percent of the gratuity after deducting there from the dues mentioned in clause (b), in the same manner as pay and allowances of the establishment are drawn by him. 

            (2)        The Head of Office shall disburse the provisional family pension (including arrears, if any) and the gratuity immediately after the same have been drawn under sub-rule (1). 

            (3)        The payment of provisional family pension shall continue for a period of six months from the date of following the date of death of the railway servant unless the period is extended by the Accounts Officer under the proviso to sub-rule (1) of rule 97. 

            (4)        The Head of Office shall inform the Accounts Officer: - 

(a)        as soon as the gratuity has been paid to the claimant or claimants; and 

(b)        as soon as the provisional family pension has been paid for a period of six months or for the period extended under provision to sub-rule (1) of rule 97, as the case may be. 

            (5)        If the claimant or any of the claimants desire the payment of provisional family pension or of gratuity or of both through money order or bank draft, the same shall be remitted to him or her through money order or bank draft at his or her own cost: 

            Provided that in the case of any claimant who is sanctioned a provisional family pension not exceeding two hundred and fifty rupees (inclusive of relief on family pension) per mensem, the amount of pension shall, at the request of the claimant, be remitted to his or her by money order or bank draft at Government expense. 

97. Authorisation of final pension and balance of the gratuity by the Accounts Officer: (1) On receipt of the documents referred to in sub-rule (1) of rule 95, the Accounts Officer shall, within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the documents apply the requisite checks and complete Section I of Part II of Form 16 and assess the amount of family pension and gratuity; 

            Provided that if the Accounts Officer is, for any reason, unable to assess the amount within the period aforesaid, he shall communicate the fact to the Head of Office to continue to disburse for such period as may be specified by the Accounts Officer. 

            (2)        (a)        If the family pension is payable in his circle of accounting unit, the Accounts Officer shall prepare  the pension payment order. 

                        (b)        The payment of family pension shall be effective from the date following the date of which the payment of provisional family pension ceased.

(Authority: Railway Board’s letter No. F(E)III/99/PN 1/(Modification) dated 23.5.2000)

                        (c)        Arrears of family pension if any, in respect of the period for which provisional family pension was drawn and disbursed by the Head of Office shall also be authorised by the Accounts Officer. 

(3)        (a)        The Accounts Officer shall determine the amount of the balance of the gratuity after adjusting the amount, if any, outstanding against the deceased railway servant. 

                        (b)        The Average Officer shall determine the amount of the balance of the gratuity determined under clause (a) with the remarks that the  amount of the balance of the gratuity may be drawn and disbursed by the Head of Office to the person or persons to whom the provisional gratuity has been paid. 

                        (c)        The amount of gratuity adjusted under sub-clause (a) for non- vacation of Railway accommodation shall be adjusted by the Head of Office against the outstanding licence fee and the balance, if any, refunded to the person or persons to whom gratuity has been  paid.

             (4)        The fact of the issue of the pension payment order shall be promptly reported to the Head of Office by the Accounts Officer and the documents which are no longer required shall also be returned to him. 

            (5)        If the final family pension including the arrears of provisional family pension is payable in another circle of accounting unit, the Accounts Officer shall send the pension payment order together with a copy of Form 16 duly completed to the Accounts Officer of that unit for arranging payment; 

            Provided that the adjustment of provisional family pension drawn and disbursed by the Head of Office, shall be made by the Accounts Officer in whose circle of accounting unit the provisional family pension was paid. 

            (6)        If the amount of provisional family pension as disbursed by the Head of Office is found to be in excess of the final family pension assessed by the Accounts Officer, it shall be open to the Accounts Officer to adjust the excess amount in installments by the short payments of family pension payable in future.  

            (7)        (a)        If the amount of gratuity disbursed by the Head of Office proves to be larger than the amount finally assessed by the Accounts Officer the beneficiary shall not be required to refund the excess. 

                        (b)        The Head of Office shall ensure that chances of disbursing the amount of gratuity in excess of the amount actually admissible are minimised and the official or officials responsible for the payment shall be accountable for the over-payment. 

98.       Adjustment of Government dues or railway dues- (1) Dues pertaining to Government accommodation, 

(i)         if on the date of death, the railway servant was allotee of Government accommodation , the Head of Office on receipt of intimation regarding the death of such railway servant shall within seven days of the receipt of such intimation, write to the Directorate of Estates for the issue of “No Demand Certificate” so that authorisation of family pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity is not delayed. While addressing the Directorate of Estates for the issue of “No Demand Certificate”, the Head of Office shall also supply the following information in duplicate (one copy) marked to the Rent Wing and the second to the Allotment wing- 

                                    (a)        name of the deceased railway servant with designation; 

                                          (b)        particulars of the accommodation ( quarter No., type and locality) ; 

                                    (c)        date of death of railway servant; 

                                    (d)        whether the railway servant was on leave at the time of hisdeath and if so, the period and nature of leave 

                                    (e)        whether the railway servant was enjoying rent free 
                                                accommodation; 

                                    (f)         the period upto which licence fee had been recovered the pay and allowances of the deceased railway servant and the monthly rate of recovery and particulars of the pay bill under which last recovery was made;

                                    (g)        if the licence fee had not been recovered upto the date of death and the family intends to retain Government accommodation for the permissible period of four months  from the date of death of the railway servant, details the ,- 

                                          (1)  period for which licence fee still remains to be recovered; 

(2)   the amount of licence fee in respect of the period at (1) to be determined on the basis of the standard rent bill; 

                                         (3)   the amount of licence fee for the retention of Government accommodation by the family of the deceased railway servant for the concessional period of four months the date of death of the railway servant to be determined on the basis of standard bill; 

                                        (4)    the amount of licence fee sanctioned at (2) and (3)   proposed to be recovered out of death-cum-retirement gratuity; 

                                        (5) (i) details of any previous reference from the Directorate of  Estates having bearing on the recovery of licence fee  outstanding against the allottee and action taken therein. 

                                           (ii) The Head of Office shall recover from the death-cum-retirement gratuity the amount of licence fee as intimated to the Directorate of Estates under-clause (i) 

                                       (iii) The recovery of licence fee for the occupation of Government accommodation beyond the permissible period of four months shall be the Directorate of Estates. 

                                          (iv) The Directorate of Estates shall scrutinize their records with a view to determine if licence fee other than the license fee referred to in clause (i) was outstanding against the deceased railway servant. If any recovery is found, the amount and the period or periods to which such recovery or recoveries relate shall be communicated to the Head of Office within a period of three months of the receipts of intimation regarding the death of the railway servant under clause (i).                                   

(5)(v) Pending receipt of information under clause  (iv), the Head of Office shall withhold "ten percent of the death-cum-retirement   gratuity.

 (Authority: Railway Board letter No. F(E)III/2010/PNl/4 dated  28.03.12)

                                         (vi) If no intimation is received by the Head of Office within the period specified under clause (iv) regarding recovery 
             of licence fee, it shall be presumed that nothing was  recoverable from the deceased railway servant and the 
             amount of gratuity withheld shall be paid to the person or persons to whom the amount of death-gratuity was paid. 

                                       (vii) If the Head of Office has received intimation from the Directorate of Estates under clause (vi) regarding recovery of licence fee, it shall be presumed that nothing was recoverable from the deceased railway servant, the Head of Office shall verify from the acquittance rolls if the outstanding amount of licence fee was recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased railway servant. If as a result of verification, it is found that the amount of licence fee shown as outstanding by the Directorate of Estates, had already been recovered, the Head of Office shall draw the attention of the Directorate of Estates to the pay bills under which the necessary recovery of the licence fee was made and subject to the provisions of sub-rule (2) take steps to pay the amount of the gratuity with held under clause (v)  to the person or persons to whom the death gratuity was paid. 

                                       (viii)   If the outstanding amount of licence fee was not recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased railway servant, the outstanding amount shall be adjusted against the amount of the gratuity with held under clause (v) and the balance, if any, repaid to the person to whom the amount of death-cum-retirement gratuity was paid. 

            (2)        The Head of Office shall, within one month of the receipt of intimation regarding death of a railway servant, take steps to ascertain if any dues as referred to in rule 15 and sub-rule (6) of rule16 were recoverable from the deceased railway servant. Such ascertainable dues shall be recovered from the amount of death-cum-retirement gratuity becoming payable to the family of the deceased railway servant. 

99.       Payment of family pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity when a railway servant dies while on deputation: (1) In the case of a railway servant who dies while on deputation to another Central Government Department, action to authorize family pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter shall be taken by the Head of Office ot the borrowing Department. 

            (2)        In the case of a railway servant who dies while on deputation to a State Government or while on foreign service, action to authorise the payment of family pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter shall be taken by the concerned Head of Office from where the railway servant proceeded on deputation to the State Government or to the foreign service. 

            (3)        In the case of a Central Government employee belonging to a Ministry or Department dies while on deputation to the railway, action to authorise the payments of family pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter shall be taken by the parent Ministry of Department from where he has proceeded on deputation to the railway.