CHAPTER XXI

PENSION PAYMENTS

Place of payment

508 (1). Under Treasury Rule 21, pensions payable in India may be paid in any district of the State.

(2) Central Government Pensioners, Railway Pensioners and Defence Services Pensioners will draw their pensions from the State Treasuries or through Public Sector Banks, as may be decided upon by Government in consultation with the Accountant General.

508-A. In case any pensioner drawing pension in this State desires to draw pension in another State, the payment may be authorized by the Accountant General in consultation with the Audit Officer of the State concerned.

Pension Payment Order

509. Payments of Pensions are made only upon Pension Payment Orders issued by the Accountant General. Payment of ad hoc relief/interim relief and additional relief sanctioned to pensioners of the State Government from time to time may, however, be made without any authority from the Accountant General except in the case of pensioners of Uttar Pradesh drawing their pensions in other States, in whose case payment authority from the Accountant General, Uttar Pradesh, will be required.

510. The Treasury Officer’s halves of Pension Payment Orders will be pasted in serial order in separate files, one for each class of pensions, such as service, political, assignments and compensations. The rules regarding these orders are in the Civil Service Regulations, Articles 939 to 943. The Treasury Officer will be personally responsible for the safe custody of these files in the Treasury.

NOTE—(1) When a male pensioner is specially exempted by the Government from personal appearance, the fact should be noted in his Pension Payment Order and in all cases of non-appearance of a male pensioner (Civil Service Regulation 945), a note will be made on the Pension Payment Order of the form in which proof was given, within each year, of the pensioner’s continued existence : e.g., "Pensioner visited the Collector on" and the initials of the Treasury Officer or of the officer verifying the fact should be put against the note.

NOTE—(2) In commutation cases, the Accountant General will issue the authority for payment of the commuted value of the portion of pension commuted along with a fresh Pension Payment Order for the reduced amount of pension, to be payable with effect from the date of commutation. After the commuted money is paid, both the portions of the original Pension Pay-Order must be returned to the Accountant General along with the voucher for the commuted value with a separate Schedule.

NOTE—(3) If the Pension Payment Order received from the Account General’s office related to a pensioner in whose favour an anticipatory Pension Payment Order has been issued, special care should be taken to return both halves of the anticipatory payment order together with the voucher for the first payment of the final pension to the Accountant General’s office in a registered cover in advance of the treasury Schedule.

Registers of Pension Payment Orders

511. (1) The Treasury Officer will keep a register in Form No. 51 of the Pension Payment Orders issued on his Treasury, which register will serve as an index to the files of orders referred to in paragraph 510.

(2) As soon as a new Pension Payment Order is entered in the register in Form No. 51, the Treasury Officer shall have an extract of the entry made out in accordance with the rules contained in Chapter 55 of the Manual of Government Orders and send it to the Tahsildar within the limits of whose jurisdiction the pensioner may happen to reside. Subsequent changes pertaining to the entry shall also be intimated to the Tahsildar as soon as they occur. Detailed rules regarding maintenance of the list of pensioners at the Tahsils are contained in Chapter 55 referred to above and should be carefully observed.

512. The Treasury Officer should see that every new order is correctly entered in this register, and will put his initials in the column of "Name of pensioner", and rule a red ink line across the page below the entry. The column of remarks will be blank as long as the order of payment is in force; but when both portions of the order are returned on account of death of a pensioner, or application for transfer, which causes strike it permanently off the treasury list, the date and cause of return should be entered in black ink under the Treasury Officer’s initials.

513. Treasury Officers are authorized 10 renew Pension Payment Orders, without reference to the Accountant General in cases in which the pensioner’s half is lost, worn or torn, or the entries on the reverse of either the pensioner’s or Collector’s half are completely filled up. When a pensioner asks for a duplicate Pension Payment Order on the ground that the original order has been lost, stolen, destroyed or defaced, he should be required to submit a written application in which he should explain the circumstances in which the loss, theft, destruction or damage occurred. If the loss or damage is due to sheer carelessness or neglect on the part of the pensioner, a sum of Re. 1, being the renewal fee, must be recovered from him. If it is due to causes beyond his control and also in the case of used up Pension Payment Orders, the renewal fee of Re. 1 need not be charged. The renewed Pension Payment Orders should bear the old number, date and facsimile or signature, and the old ones should be retained by the Treasury Officer for three years and then destroyed. A note of the issue of the new Pension Payment Order should also be made in the "Remarks" column of the register.

NOTE—The Pension Payment Orders will ordinarily be filed in one series for the whole district, but the Accountant General may allow filing by Sub-Treasury series when this course is found more convenient.

Manner of Payment

514. All Treasury Officers will, on the first appearance of a pensioner before them to take payment of his pension, note in the column "Residence" in the Collector’s half of the Pension Payment Order any additional particulars regarding his correct address that may be thought necessary to ensure its easy identification in case of subsequent non-appearance. Steps should also be taken to ascertain and note similarly from time to time, as may be necessary, any change in the address entered.

NOTE—In the case of pensioners drawing their pensions through Bank or Agents, who have executed a bond of indemnity to cover pension payments, the personal appearance of the pensioner for the first time for taking over the Pensioner’s half of the Pension Payment Order is not necessary. The Pensioner’s half of the Pension Payment Order should, in such cases, be sent to the pensioner through Registered post and a written acknowledgment of the receipt of document be obtained by the Treasury Officer.

515. On appearance of a pensioner claiming payment of pension, his personal marks should be checked by the disbursing officer and the signature to the receipt compared with the facsimile of the signature pasted on the original Payment Order. If the pensioner cannot sign his name, his thumb impression on the receipt should be compared with the original impression already taken on the Collector’s half of the Pension Payment Order. A pensioner drawing pension for the first time should also be required to produce the copy of the order by which the sanction to his pension was communicated to him.

NOTE—(1) In case of illiterate pensioners and pardanashin ladies, aequittances by seal marks attested by some known and respectable person, may be accepted in lieu of thumb-impression.

NOTE—(2) When the payment of a pension is required to be made at a Sub-Treasury, the Treasury Officer should obtain a fresh specimen signature and thumb impression of the pensioner on a piece of card board. He should compare them with the signature and thumb impressions attached to the Collector’s half of the Pension Payment Order and after duly attesting them forward them together with a copy of the original Collector’s half of the Pension Payment Order, to the Sub-Treasury Officer concerned.

NOTE—(3) Lepers, on account of the contagious nature of their disease, may be paid their pensions without being called on to produce a Pension Payment Order or a bill. They will simply appear before the Treasury Officer who, after satisfying himself as to the identity or the pensioner, will instruct one of his clerks to draw up a pension bill form on which payment will be made atonce, and the bill will then be stamped by the Treasury Officer as having been paid in his presence. The fact that payment has been made will also be recorded on the Treasury copy of the Pension Payment Order under the initials of the Treasury Officer.

In the case of those leper pensioners who are unable to move or are not allowed to appear before the Treasury Officer on medical grounds, their pensions may be remitted by postal money order or paid through a responsible person, e.g., Gram Pradhan of the village, before two respectable witnesses.

516. Special risk of fraud exists in the payment of pensions of women who do not appear in public. Special care should, therefore, be taken in identification in these cases. The descriptive rolls, when originally prepared, and the periodical certificates of the continued existence of such women, should be attested by two or more persons of respectability in the town, village or pargana.

517. Pensioner’s receipts may be taken either on separate bills (which bills may be attached to a schedule for each kind of pension, or, if few in number, may support separate entries in the cash-book and list of payments), or on a single bill (form no. 522) for all on account of each class of pensions. On the latter plan, the receipt of each pensioner appearing personally will be taken in the column provided for that purpose, while separate receipts will be appended in support of the charges on account of those paid at subordinate Treasuries (Civil Service Regulation, 952). If payment is made to another person authorized to receive it, the name of the payee should be entered in the separate receipt. On all such documents should be entered the number of the entry in the bill.

518. (1) A life-certificate must accompany every pension bill which is not personally presented, except as specified in Article 949, Civil Service Regulations. When payment is made on a life-certificate, it should be made only for months completed on or before the date of the certificate.

(2) Since a Treasury Officer is personally responsible for any payment wrongly made, he should satisfy himself that the life-certificate accompanying a bill is genuine Unless, therefore, a life-certificate is signed by a person authorized under Article 945 or 946, Civil Service Regulations, whose signature is known to the Treasury, it must be attested by another responsible government servant, or by some other well known and trustworthy person whose signature is known to the Treasury.

NOTE—(1) A life- certificate which is singed by a magistrate (including an honorary magistrate) of any district exercising magisterial powers in any part of Uttar Pradesh and which bears the seal of his court, should be accepted, even if the signature of the magistrate is not known to the Treasury.

NOTE—(2) In the case of sick and infirm pensioners of the Burma Military Police, life-certificates given to them by Indian Officers of Commissioned Rank or other officers mentioned in paragraph 12 of the Instructions for the payment of Military Pensioners should also be accepted.

Verification of continued existence of Civil Pensioners

518–A. (1) In the case of all such pensioners who do not appear at the Treasury to receive their pension, but send their pension bills accompanied by life-certificates signed by persons authorized under Article 945 or 946, Civil Service Regulations, the Treasury Officer must take precautions to prevent impositions and, as required by Article 947, Civil Service Regulations, must at least once a year require proof independent of that furnished by life-certificates of the continued existence of the pensioner. But, for this purpose, no pensioner need be required to appear at the Treasury if the usual life-certificate which accompanies the first bill presented on or after April 1 is countersigned by a second responsible government servant or by some other well known and trustworthy person whose signature is known to the Treasury.

NOTE—The Disbursing Officer may, at his discretion and for reasons to be recorded, privately identify and verify the continued existence of a pensioner, and dispense with his personal appearance prescribed in this rule but this power shall be exercised only in special cases such as of those who held high offices before retirement.

(2) A pensioner of any description resident in India drawing his pension through banks or agents who have executed a general bond of indemnity (vide list under paragraph 103 of the Financial Handbook, Volume V, Part I) or a special bond of indemnity to cover pension payments made to a particular pensioner or class of pensioners from a particular station or stations need not be required to get the life-certificate accompanying the first bill presented on or after April 1 (vide Article 949 (b), Civil Service Regulations), countersigned in the manner prescribed in sub-para (1) above, but such countersignature will be necessary if the pension is drawn through a bank or agent that has not signed any bond of indemnity. The monthly life-certificate furnished with a pension bill will require the attestation prescribed in sub-para (2) of paragraph 518 above in every case where the pension is drawn through a bank or agent that has not executed any bond of indemnity.

NOTE—(1) In the case of pensioners drawing their pensions through banks or agents, who have executed a bond of indemnity to cover pension payments, it is not necessary that the signature of the person, who has given life-certificate, should be known to the Treasury as the banks or agents will be responsible for seeing that the signature of the person, who has given life-certificate, is genuine.

(2) Bills relating to pension claims which are presented by the pensioners through their banks or other agents who have executed requisite indemnity bonds may be accepted at the Treasuries/Sub-Treasuries during the last four days of the month to which the claim related including the month in which a life certificate is required to be produced, the payment for such a month, however, being made only on production of life certificate for the particular month.

Miscellaneous

519. In cases in which political pensioners do not appear in person to receive payment of their pensions, if the disbursing officer entertains any doubt which he has no convenient means of removing, he should refer the case to Government through his immediate superior for orders. Payment of the pension, however, should not be suspended pending the result of such reference.

520. Where the determination of a pension cannot be fixed for a precise date, the pensioner’s receipt must be accompanied by a certificate that the event (whatever it is) which determines the pension has not happened.

521. A declaration in the following Form should be obtained half-yearly from female pensioners whose pension is terminable by their marriage, and should be attached to the bills for pension paid for December and June :

"I hereby declare that I am not married, and that I have not been married during the past half-year"

"We certify to the best of our knowledge and belief that the above declaration is correct."

NOTE—(1) The production of a widowhood certificate may be dispensed with in the case of Indian widows after they have attained the age of 40 years. Pensions in such cases should be paid on the unsupported testimony of the pensioners that they have not remarried. The written statement of the pensioners should be attached to the bills for pension paid for December and June.

When a female pensioner whose pension is terminable by marriage is reported to have remarried or to be living in circumstances equivalent to remarriage but denies the fact, the matter should be reported to Government immediately.

NOTE—(2) The declaration should be signed by two well-known persons or at the discretion of the Treasury Officer by a person of any of the following categories :

(1) A serving or pensioned Indian officer of commissioned rank.

(2) A person who is authorized to issue a life certificate to a pensioner under Article 946 of Civil Service Regulations.

(3) Gram Pradhans holding office as such under the U. P. Panchayat Raj Act, 1947.

522. (Deleted)

523. (1) Pension can be drawn for the day of a pensioner’s death; the hour at which death occurs has no effect on the claim. Any person claiming as the heir of a deceased pensioner should be required to produce the pensioner’s half of the Pension Payment Order, or if no Pension Payment Order has been issued, the copy of the order in which sanction to the pension was communicated to the pensioner or his heir.

(2) The rules regarding payment of pensions of deceased pensioners are contained in the Civil Service Regulations, Articles 959-961.

NOTE—Rule 2 under paragraph 97 of Part I regarding last payments of pay and allowances applies here also.

(3) The District Officer may, in cases in which he is authorized to order payment under Article 960, Civil Service Regulations, determine, if necessary, the shares of the legal heirs of a deceased pensioner after proper inquiry and may order the payment of the arrears of pension to be made in the manner that he thinks best in the circumstances of each case, i.e., partly or wholly in cash or by money order. Payment can, therefore, be made in cash, if the payees attend the Treasury in person; otherwise by money-order at their own cost. This also applies to heir or heirs who are pardanashin ladies or when the amount to be paid is incommensurate with the money and time involved in the journey by the heir or heirs.

524. District Officers should furnish each officer in charge of a police station in their districts, in June each year, with a list of pensioners residing within the limits of his jurisdiction, with instructions to report, without delay, the death or disappearance of any pensioner to the Tahsildar, who should take steps to verify the statement and report the matter.

525. When a Treasury Officer reports the non-appearance of a pensioner, an inquiry is to be made as to the cause. It is, therefore, necessary that the nearest relative or friend with whom the pensioner was living should be ascertained, and that such relative or friend should ordinarily be held responsible for reporting the death or disappearance of the pensioner.

526. A certificate of non-employment is printed in Form no. 52 and should be signed by all pensioners. If a pensioner who is required to sign the certificate is re-employed either permanently or temporarily in a Government Establishment or in an establishment paid from a local fund, during the period for which pension is claimed, he should furnish the necessary particulars therein ; and the disbursing officer should ascertain and report whether the rules regarding such re-employment have been duly observed.

527. (Deleted)

528. Every payment is to be entered (Civil Service Regulations, Article 943-2) on the reverse of both portions of the order and attested by the signature of the disbursing officer; in case of pensions paid at a Sub-Treasury (Civil Service Regulations, Article 952) where will be found only a copy of the order with the District Officer’s order thereon, the Sub-Treasury Officer will make the entry on the counterpart and on his copy, while the Treasury Officer at the Headquarters Treasury will, from the receipt, make the necessary note on his original of the order.

529. (1) Pensions not drawn for three years in the case of those adjustable under "266-Pension and other Retirement Benefits" cease to be payable at the Treasury without the prior sanction of the Accountant General. Arrears of pension due in case of a deceased pensioner also cease to be payable by the Treasury Officer, if they are not claimed within one year of the pensioner’s death. The Treasury Officer should sort out such cases by examining the files of civil Pension Payment Orders every month and return his halves of the Pension Payment Orders to the Accountant General along with the statement mentioned in sub-para (2) below.

(2) The Treasury Officer should submit to the Accountant General, every six months, a statement of cases of failure to draw pension. The statement should be prepared in two parts, one part showing the names of all pensioners who have not drawn their pensions for three years and the other part showing the names of pensioners other than those included in the former part who have not drawn their pensions for more than one year. The reason for the non-drawal, if known, should be stated against each name.

Payment of Pensions by postal money-order

529-A. (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-para (2) below, the payment of pensions, including Family Pensions, not exceeding Rs. 500 a month, shall be made by postal money-order. In doing so, the following rules shall be observed:

Rules

1. When a pensioner, other than the pensioner covered by sub - para (2) below, who has been sanctioned a pension not exceeding Rs. 500 per month, presents himself in the Treasury or Sub-Treasury, for payment of the pension his copy of the Pension Payment Order, along with the declaration to obtain payment through money-order, should be obtained from him and the Treasury Officer or Sub-Treasury Officer should then identify the pensioner as laid down in paragraph 515 above. After this has been done, he should paste the declaration and halves of the Pension Payment Order in a register headed "Pensions payable be money-order". On a date, not later than the 24th of the month for which the payment of the pension is to be made a Treasury or Sub-Treasury office clerk deputed for the purpose should make out a money-order form·for each pension recorded in the register mentioned above, less money-order commission, and make corresponding payment entries in the tableat the back of the Pension Payment Order. The Treasury Officer or Sub-Treasury Officer should sign the money-order form and initial the entries on the back of the Pension Payment Orders after carefully comparing the three documents.

(i) Every money-order form should be stamped prominently by the Treasury or Sub-Treasury office clerk with the words "Pension Payment" with a red ink stamp. Similarly, the money-order acknowledgment should be stamped with the words "on account of pension for.....", the month to which the pension relates being filled in manuscript at the time of issuing the money-order.

(ii) The money-order forms should be carefully prepared and corrected and complete information should be given as to the name and address of the payee. The post office will not be responsible for wrong payments caused by the carelessness of the remitter in this respect.

(iii) The Treasury Officer or the Sub-Treasury Officer shall ensure that the preparation of the money orders is taken up from 10th of each month and all the money orders are, along with the required list/certificate, despatched together to the Post Office by the 25th of the month for which the pensions are to be paid. On each money order form will be enfaced the words "Not payable before the first of the next month" so that payment of pension is not made earlier than the first of the next month by the Post Office.

2. The Treasury or Sub-Treasury Officer will watch for the payee’s acknowledgment for all remittances and should compare the signature on the payees’ acknowledgment every month with the pensioner’s signature on the Pension Payment Order.

NOTE—A minute comparison of thumb-impressions of illiterate payees is not necessary. The Treasury or Sub-Treasury Officer should, however, satisfy himself by an examination of the money-order receipts that an illiterate payee has given thumb-impression on the money-order receipt in the presence of a literate witness whose signature should also appear on the receipt.

3. The Treasury or Sub-Treasury Officer should also satisfy himself once every six months in such manner as he thinks desirable that the pensioner is actually alive. In token of having done so, he should endorse on the schedules of payments for the months of January and July each year a certificate to the effect that the pensioners were actually alive on the date on which the pensions were remitted to them.

NOTE—The District Officer should determine, on a consideration of local circumstances, what arrangements should be made to ascertain deaths and should lay on some village official the responsibility of reporting promptly the death of a pensioner whose pension is paid by money-order.

4. Ordinarily, the pension for the next month should be sent by money-order only after the receipt of the acknowledgment of the money-order for the pension of the last month. If the return of the payees’ acknowledgment is delayed longer than ten days from the date of issue of the money-order, or if a complaint is received regarding non-payment, the Treasury or Sub-Treasury Officer should forthwith make inquiries from the Post Master concerned. The pension for the next month should, however, be remitted by money-order without waiting for the acknowledgment but the remittance of pension for the month thereafter should be held up for so long as the Treasury or Sub-Treasury Officer is not fully satisfied that the pension has been received by the Pensioner. He will make personal contacts for this purpose.

5. It will not be necessary to prepare separate pension bills for pensions paid by money-order. The payments should be shown in a separate schedule which will serve as a voucher. On this schedule, the Treasury or Sub-Treasury Officer should give a certificate in his own handwriting to the effect that he has satisfied himself that all amounts noted in the schedule have actually been remitted by money-order.

6. The amount to be remitted will not be paid to the post office in cash, but by transfer to the credit of the post office. The money-order forms should be sent to the post office with a certificate by the Treasury or Sub-Treasury Officer that the amount of the money-order and the commission thereon has been credited to the post office in the Treasury (or Sub-Treasury) accounts by transfer.

NOTE—The words, "Adjusted by book transfer" should invariably be written in red ink across the money-order form and the amount of money-order with the commission due must be specified in the certificate prescribed above.

7. In the schedule of payments for the succeeding month, the Treasury or Sub-Treasury Officer should give the following certificate:

"Certified that I have satisfied myself that all pensions included in the schedule for the previous month have been paid to the proper persons and that I have obtained all payees’ acknowledgments in support of these payments and have filed them in my office".

8. In the schedules for January and July of each year, the Treasury Officer should also furnish the following additional certificate:

"Certified (1) that I have obtained from each pensioner a declaration that he has not received any remuneration for serving in any capacity under Government or under a Local Fund during the past six months, and (2) and I have obtained from each female pensioner whose pension is terminable on her marriage, declaration in Form 52A of the Financial Handbook, Volume V, Part II, that she is not married and that she has not been married during the past half year."

9. Once every year in April or October all pensioners whose pensions are paid by money-order shall be required to attend the Treasury or Sub-Treasury in person so as to enable the Treasury or Sub-Treasury Officer to satisfy himself that payments have been made correctly and also to fulfil the requirements of paragraph 531 below and Article 947, Civil Service Regulations. On such occasions, the payment of pension for the month of March or September may be made to the pensioner in cash.

NOTE—Female pensioners whose pensions are terminable on marriage or remarriage, and who elect to have their pensions paid by money-order should either appear in person before Treasury or Sub-Treasury officer twice a year when drawing their pensions for December and June in order to enable that officer to obtain the non marriage or widowhood certificate or should submit the requisite certificate well in time to admit of their pensions for the two aforesaid months being remitted by money-order.

The Treasury Officer should certify in the schedules for January and July each year to the effect that he has obtained the requisite declaration in Form No. 52-A.

10. Money-order receipts and payees’ acknowledgment coupons should be preserved in the Treasury for 5 years before being destroyed.

NOTE—The provisions of the rules, also apply to female pensioners who are not accustomed to appear in public. In their case the condition of personal shall be waived but they should be required to submit their written declaration attested by two or more persons of respectability in the town, village or pargana.

(2) Such pensioners, that is, those pensioners including Family Pensioners, who are sanctioned a pension not exceeding Rs. 300 per month, shall also have the option to receive their pension direct from the Treasury or Sub-Treasury or through the Bank. In such cases, their option shall be obtained in writing and pasted in the register "Pensions payable in Treasury" and they will receive their pension from the Treasury or Sub-Treasury or through the Banks according to the prescribed procedure.

Payment through Public Sector Banks

529–B. U. P. State Pensioners including All India Service Officers of the State Cadre whether they retire from a post under the State Government or under the Central Government and such other officers to whom the scheme may be made applicable by Government may opt to take payment of their pension from Public Sector Banks approved by Government for the purpose. The procedure to be followed in this regard is given in Appendix XXVII.

Payment at Sub-Treasuries

530. Under Article 952, Civil Service Regulations, arrangements may be made for the payment of a pension at a Sub-Treasury, as this will save the pensioner some inconvenience and expense in having to go to the District Treasury for his pension. The attention of pensioners should be drawn to this privilege, and the Treasury Officers should, wherever practicable, authorize payment of a pension at a Sub-Treasury instead of at the District Treasury.

NOTE (1)—The procedure authorized in paragraph 529-A supplies, mutatis mutandis, to pensions, the payment of which at a Sub-Treasury has been authorized under Article 952 of the Civil Service Regulations.

NOTE (2)—It is generally the practice in the case of pensioners who wish to draw their pensions from a Sub-Treasury that the first payment of pension is not made at the Sub-Treasury but at the Sadar Treasury and subsequent payments are made at the Sub-Treasury. This arrangement is both trouble-some and expensive to the pensioner and pensions should, from the very beginning, be paid at the Sub-Treasury. The following procedure should be adopted in the case of pensions payable at Sub-Treasuries :

On receipt of a Pension Payment Order or pension circular in respect of pensions payable at Sub-Treasury, the Treasury Officer should, after giving a serial number to the Pension Payment Order and taking action as required under paragraphs 511 and 512 (or paragraph 88 of the Instructions for the Payment of Military Pensions), forward the original Payment Order to the Sub-Treasury concerned. The Sub-Treasury Officer will exercise the checks laid down in paragraphs 514, 518 and paragraph 521 (or paragraphs 82-97 of the Instructions for the Payment of Military Pensions) and make payment, returning the original disburser’s half of the Pension Payment Order to the Sadar Treasury after a copy of it has been taken for use at the Sub-Treasury. The Pension Payment Order will then be dealt with at the Sadar Treasury in the manner described in paragraph 510. It should be clearly understood that the Treasury Officers should continue to communicate promptly to the Sub-Treasury Officers concerned all subsequent orders, requirements and instructions such as stoppage, reduction or increase in the rate of pension or assignment of the District serial number, etc. pertaining to such pensioners.

Payment of Petty Pension at the Banking Treasuries

530–A. In the case of Banking Treasuries, petty pensions of Rs. 300 per mensem or under which are, under sub-para (2) of para 529 A, desired to be paid at the Treasury, may be paid at the Treasury instead of the Bank. Payment of pensions exceeding Rs. 300 per mensem but not exceeding Rs. 500 per mensem may also be made at the Treasury at the discretion of the Treasury Officer if he considers that due to the location of the Bank, the pensioners drawing pensions not exceeding Rs. 500 per mensem are put to inconvenience and extra expenditure. For making payment of such pensions, the Treasury Officer may draw under paragraph 249 (h), two advances every month. In cases, however, where the amounts of advances cannot be determined accurately, more than two advances may be drawn according to the circumstances of each Treasury but such advances should be as few in number as possible. The advances will be drawn and accounted for in accordance with the following rules :

1. The account of the advances drawn from the 1st to the 10th of the month will be closed on the 10th of the month. The account of the advances drawn from the 10th to the end of the month will be closed on the last working day of the month.

2. The amount of the advance will be charged to such head of account, and the account of the advance will be kept and rendered to the Accountant General in such form and such manner as the Accountant General may from time to time prescribe.

3. As the Treasury Officer is personally responsible for the proper accounting of such advances, it is necessary that he should check the account of the advance every day along with the regular daily accounts. For purposes of this check, the accountant should maintain as abstract account of the advances in Form no. 52-B, and enter therein the amount of advance drawn with particulars of its voucher and date on which it is drawn. Payments as they are made against this advance should be entered daily in this register and a balance struck. Only daily totals from the schedules of pension payments should be entered. Totals should, however, be entered separately for each head of account to which the amount of pension paid is charged. This will enable the Treasury Officer to check that totals from respective schedules are carried to the abstract account correctly.

5. The above rules apply to civil pensions. In the case of military pensions, separate advances will be drawn and a separate account will be kept in the same forms as prescribed for civil pensions in rules 3 and 4 above.

Periodical Identification of Pensioners

531. (1) On the first appearance of a pensioner on or after April 1 of each year the disbursing officer should, except in the case of persons who have been gazetted government servants, take an impression of the thumb of the pensioner’s left hand on the pension bill. The disbursing officer may, in his discretion, take finger impressions also in any case in which he considers this necessary to facilitate comparison. The pensioner should then be identified from the particulars given in the disbursing officer’s half of the Pension Payment Order or in the audit register, as the case may be. Identification should also be made by an examination of the impressions given on the bill with those pasted on the Pension Payment Order or in the audit register, if the pensioner cannot be identified by other means with absolute certainty.

(2) Pardanashin ladies and illiterate pensioners must give a thumb impression on their bills in the presence of the person who gives the life-certificate, or in the case of illiterate pensioners who personally attend the paying office, before the disbursing officer.

(3) On the renewal of the Pension Payment Order, the original impression must be cut off from the old and attached to the new order.

532. (Deleted)

532-A. Payment of pensions to those pensioners who are drawing pension not exceeding Rs. 300 per mensem and whose payment is due on first four days of the month should be made on the last working day of the previous month, if the first four days of the succeeding month are public holidays. Similarly, such pensioners who are paid their pensions between 16th and 19th of a month, will be paid their pensions on the 15th if 16th to 19th are holidays.

Gratuities

533. Gratuities will be paid by Treasury Officers on authority received from the Accountant General to whom, under Article 938 (a) Civil Service Regulations the sanction is communicated by the sanctioning authority or by another audit officer. The payee should also be required to produce the copy of the order by which the sanction to the gratuity was communicated to him; and the Treasury Officer should record the fact of payment having been made on the copy of the order so produced.

NOTE—The signatures and thumb-impressions, etc. of the payee should be scrutinized in the same manner as prescribed in paragraph 515 for pensioners.

534. Gratuities are payable only to and upon the receipt of the persons legally entitled to receive them and not to and upon the receipt of the head of the office or department in which the gratuitants formerly served.

535-536. (Deleted)