Chapter I—General Scope

Extent of Application

1. (a) These regulations are intended to define the conditions under which pension is earned by service in the Civil Departments, and in what manner it is related.

(b) Not Printed.

(c) Not printed.

2. Not Printed.

3. Not Printed.

Right of Changing or Interpreting Rules

4. The State Government reserve to themselves the right of changing the rule in these Regulations regarding..... pension from time to time at their discretion, and of interpreting their meaning in case of dispute.

An officer’s claim to .................................. pension is regulated by the rules in force at the time at when the officer resigns or is discharged from the service of Government.

NOTE— 1. Not printed.

NOTE— 2. Extracts from a despatch from the Secretary of State and Resolution by the Government of India relating to the rights reserved by Government in this Article:

Despatch from Secretary of State, No. 10, dated 7th October, 1880 :—

"You remark that you are unable to admit any obligations on the part of the Government of India to compensate those officers for the indirect and remote effects of any administrative measures which it has been considered necessary to adopt in the interests of the State generally, and that it would be extremely inconvenient, if not wholly impracticable, in carrying out every change to consider every possible effect, however remote, which such change might have on the prospects of every officer in the service.

I concur in the sentiment expressed by your Government in this matter. All administrative reforms would be rendered impossible if the Government were fettered by considerations such as those above referred to."

Resolution No. 4863, dated 4th December, 1891.

"The Government of India have always been careful to exercise the right of altering rules with due consideration for the rights of their servants. The ordinary course adopted to prevent hardship arising from any change or rule found necessary has been either to defer the introduction of the change for some time after its publication, or to give the officers affected the right of choosing whether they shall come under the operation of the old or of the new rules. It has been decided that the right of altering rules must be maintained, that care should be taken, as in the past, to prevent the introduction of any new rules from operating harshly, but that the State Governments and the Government of India should not consider themselves precluded from recommending an exception in any case of individual hardship which may arise in spite of the precautions taken. If any case of apparent hardship arises, the local authorities should understand that, when the officer applies to retire, they are not precluded from examining into its merits and ascertaining whether, in their opinion, he has substantially suffered from the introduction of a rule not in force at the time he entered the service. If, after comparing the advantages secured to the officer by the altered rules with any disadvantages incidentally involved, they find that he has on the whole substantially suffered, the point may be taken into consideration in determining whether some compensation ought not to be granted in the particular instance."

4–A. An officer transferred to a Service or post to which the pension rules in these Regulations apply, from a service or post to which they do not apply, becomes subject to the pension rules in these Regulations, provided that it shall be open to him, within six months of the date of transfer or, if he is on leave on that date within six months of his return from leave, to elect to be governed by the pension rules to which he was subject immediately before the date of transfer. The intention of exercising this option must be specifically declared to the State Government. The option once exercised shall be final.

Audit Instructions

This Article should also apply to a case of transfer from the Civil Service Regulations pensions rules adopted by the State Government to those applicable to a Secretary of State’s officer even though the two sets of rules may be identical and therefore, the change over, so far as the transferred officer is concerned, is only nominal.

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