Authority competent to sanction amounts of Pension and Gratuity
89. Authority competent to sanction pensionary benefits: (1) The pensionary benefits and commutation of pension shall be sanctioned and recoveries therefrom ordered by the concerned authority, specified below, namely: -
(a) the General Manager in the case of a railway servant who is employed under the administrative control of a General Manager;
(b) the Head of the Department or Office or Project, in the case of a railway servant who is employed in a Department or Office of Project directly under the control of the Railway Board;
(c) the Secretary, Railway Board in the case of a railway servant not above the rank of a Section Officer who is employed in the Office of the Railway Board;
the Railway Board in the case of a Head of Department or Office or Project directly under the control of the Railway Board, and a General Manager and an Officer above the rank of a Section Officer who is employed in the Railway Board.
(2) The power to sanction or pass order by the officers referred in to clauses (a) and (b) of sub-rule (1) may be delegated to the Heads of Departments or Divisional Railway Managers, as the case may be, or in the case of non-gazetted railway servant to a Divisional Officer and such power of the Secretary, Railway Board referred to in clause (c) of sub-rule (1) may be exercised by the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Railways in the case of Officers not above the rank of Section Officers, and by a Deputy Secretary to whom powers may be delegated in this behalf by the Railway Board in the case of non-gazetted railway servant of the Railway Board’s Office. In the case of non-gazetted staff employed in the Research, Designs and Standards Organisation, the powers of the Director General, Research, Designs and Standard Organisation may be delegated to the Deputy Director General, Research, Designs and Standard Organisation.
90. Revision of pension after sanction: (1) Subject to the provisions of rules 8 and 9 pension once sanctioned after final assessment shall not be revised to the disadvantage of the railway servant unless such revision becomes necessary on account of detection of a clerical error subsequently:
Provided that no revision of pension to the disadvantage of the pensioner shall be ordered by the Head of Office without the concurrence of the Railway Board if the clerical error is detected after a period of two years from the date of sanction of pension.
(2) For the purpose of sub-rule (1), the retired railway servant concerned shall be served with a notice by the Head of Office requiring him to refund the excess payment of pension within a period of two months from the date of receipt of notice by him.
(3) In case the railway servant fails to comply with the notice, the Head of Office shall, by order in writing, direct that such excess payment shall be adjusted in installments by short payments of pension in future, in one or more installments, as the Head of Office may direct.
91. Provisional Pension: (1) The various stages of action laid down in rule 79, it may not be 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 issue of pension payment order and order for the payment of gratuity. If the Head of Office in such a case is of the opinion that the railway servant is likely to retire before his pension or gratuity or both, can be finally assessed and settled in accordance with the provisions of these rules, he shall without delay, take steps to determine the qualifying years of service and the emoluments qualifying for pension after a most careful summary investigations that may be made. For this purpose, he shall
(i) rely upon such information as may be available in the official records; and
(ii) ask the retiring railway servant to file a written statement on plain paper stating the total length of qualifying service including details of emoluments drawn during the last ten months of service but excluding the breaks and other non-qualifying periods of service.
(2) The railway servant while furnishing the statement, as in clause (ii) of sub-rule (1) shall, at the foot of the statement, make and subscribe to a declaration as to the truth of the statement.
(3) The Head of Office shall, thereafter determine the qualifying years of service and the emoluments qualifying for pension in accordance with the information available in the official records and the information obtained from the retiring railway servant under sub-rule (1) and he shall, then, determine the amount of provisional pension and the amount of the provisional death-cum-retirement gratuity.
(4) After the amount of pension and gratuity have been determined under sub-clause (3), the Head of Office shall take further action as follows:
(a) He shall issue a sanction letter addressed to the railway servant endorsing a copy thereof to the Accounts Officer authorising
(i) hundred per cent of pension as determined under sub-rule (3) as provisional pension for a period not exceeding six months to be reckoned from the date of retirement of the railway servant; and
(ii) hundred per cent of the gratuity as provisional gratuity as determined under sub-rule (3) withholding that part of gratuity as provided in these rules.
(b) He shall indicate in the sanction letter the amount recoverable from the gratuity under sub-rule (1) of rule 83. After issue of the sanction letter he shall draw: -
(i) the amount of provisional pension; and
(ii) the amount of provisional gratuity after deducting there from the amount mentioned in sub-clause (ii) of clause (a).
(5) The amount of provisional pension and gratuity payable under sub-rule (4) shall, if necessary, be revised on the completion of the detailed scrutiny of the records.
(6) (a) The payment of provisional pension shall not continue beyond the period of six months from the date of retirement of the railway servant. 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 the 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 (4) after adjusting the Government 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 (4) 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, 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 (4) is larger 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 minimised and the officials responsible for the excess payment shall be accountable for the overpayment.
(7) If the final amount of pension and gratuity have 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 (6), 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.
(8) As soon as the pension payment order has been issued by the Accounts Officer under clause (a) of the sub-rule (6) or sub-rule (7), the Head of Office shall take steps to refund the amount of withheld gratuity under sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) of sub-rule (4) to the retired railway servant after adjusting railway dues or Government dues which may have come to notice after the payment of provisional gratuity under sub-clause (ii) of clause (b) of sub-rule (4). If the railway servant was an allottee of Government accommodation or railway accommodation, the withheld amount should be refunded on receipt of “No Demand Certificate” from the Directorate of Estates or on vacation of railway accommodation as the case may be.