New Pension Rules for Retiring Government Employees

All retiring government officials must compulsorily submit the nomination concerning pension arrears while filling up the pension papers in Form A. The nomination will then be forwarded to the Pension Disbursing Authority and the Pension Payment Order (PPO).

A pensioner who retired before the notification of the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983 had to submit the nomination to the relevant Pension Disbursing Authority.

An employee who retired after the notification of the rules had to submit the nomination, in triplicate, in Form A either to the Head of Office or to the department from where they retired.

In a note dated March 31, 2022, the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has instructed all ministries, accounts offices, departments, banks, CPAO and Pension Disbursing Authorities to follow a procedure for managing the pensioners’ nominations submitted under the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983 by listing the following:

• Actions by departments/ministries, attached, and subordinate offices.
• Action by the accounts officers.
• Actions by the Pension Disbursing Authority/bank.
• Action by the Central Pension Accounting Office.

The Head of Office has to return a duly attested duplicate nomination copy in Form A to the pensioner. The triplicate nomination copy needs to be passed to the Pension Disbursing Authority in addition to PPO via the PAO/CPAO.

Consequently, a pensioner can modify the nomination (in case of a nominee predeceases the pensioner, or vice versa) by submitting Form A in triplicate to the Pension Disbursing Authority.

The Pension Disbursing Authority has to return a duly attested duplicate nomination copy to the pensioner within 30 days of receiving the nomination. The duplicate copy has to be sent to the Accounts Officer of the Department from where a pensioner has retired; the original nomination copy will be recorded with the PDA.

In case any arrears concerning pension accumulate after the death of a pensioner, such arrears of pension will be paid to a person in whose favour a nomination exists.

For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please contact the writer at bhavana.pn@cleartax.in.