No delay in pensions of central government employees: Government asks authorities to strictly follow this schedule to process pensions on time

The central government has taken serious note of the delay in processing pension cases, which is causing undue hardship to Central government pensionersTo address this issue, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (Expenditure Coordination Section) of the Ministry of Finance has issued an office memorandum requesting the authorities to strictly adhere to the timelines prescribed under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021. “As per the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, it is mandatory to process pension cases within the stipulated timelines to ensure timely payment of pensions to pensioners,” the memorandum said.

Below is a schedule that central government employees who are about to retire must follow in order to receive their pensions on time after retirement.

According to the rules, verification of service records and other preparatory work must begin one year before the date of retirement of the central government employee. The central government employee must submit the necessary forms six months before retirement to the Head of the Office. The Head of the Office must send the pension case to the Pension Accounting Offices (PAO) four months before retirement. The Pension Accounting Offices must issue the Pension Payment Order (PPO) and send it to the Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) one month before retirement.

The rules also provide for grant of provisional pensions in cases where a public servant is likely to retire before the end of his pension and gratuity.

“To ensure timely payment of pension dues in all cases, all PAOs are hereby directed to circulate the timelines for processing employee pension cases to the Heads of Offices as per the Annex,” the OM stated.

Processing schedule for pension files for central government employees who retire during 2024-25

1. Name of the pensioner
2. Retirement date
3. Date of submission of documents by the pensioner to the Head of the Office (six months before retirement)
4. Submission of the pension file by the Office Head to the Pension Accounting Offices (no more than 4 months)
5. Termination of the pension by the Pension Accounting Office and sending it to the Central Pension Accounting Office (one month before the retirement date)

Form 6-A is launched, a single unified form for pensioners

To enhance the convenience of senior citizens and pensioners, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh earlier launched a single unified form, merging nine separate forms into a single Form 6-A. He further announced the integration of e-HRMS with Bhavishya, a crucial step towards streamlining pension-related processes. The new unified form is designed to streamline the pension application process, reducing the complexity of handling multiple forms and significantly reducing the time and effort involved. The new simplified single pension application form 6-A will be available on Bhavishya/e-HRMS for all central government employees retiring from December 2024, news agency ANI reported. Retired officials using e-HRMS will fill Form 6-A through the platform (for retirement cases only), while those not using e-HRMS will use Bhavishya to fill the form. The new form consolidates nine existing forms/formats, specifically Forms 6, 8, 4, 3, A, Form 1, Form 9, FMA and the Option Zero Form.

This user-friendly approach is expected to benefit millions of older people, enabling them to manage their pension-related affairs with greater ease and convenience.