FAQ on Pension

Yes. Even the Government employees earlier drawing their pension from a treasury or from a post office will have the option to draw their pension from the authorized bank’s branches.

The pensioner is not required to open a separate pension account. The pension can be credited to his or her existing savings/ current account maintained with the branch selected by the pensioner.

Yes. All Central Government Pensioners and those State Governments which have accepted such arrangement can open Joint Account with their spouses.

The Joint Account of the pensioner with spouse can be operated either by ‘‘Former or Survivor" or “Either or Survivor".

RBI has not stipulated any minimum balance to be maintained in pension accounts by the pensioners.

A pensioner, who is old, sick or lost both his / her hands and, therefore, cannot sign, can put any mark or thumb/ toe impression on the form for opening of pension account. While withdrawing the pension amount he/ she can put thumb/toe impression on the cheque/withdrawal form and it should be identified by two independent witnesses known to the bank one of whom should be a bank official.

In such cases, a pensioner can put any mark or impression on the cheque/ withdrawal form and may indicate to the bank as to who would withdraw pension amount from the bank on the basis of cheque / withdrawal form. Such a person should be identified by two independent witnesses. The person who is actually drawing the money from the bank should be asked to furnish his/ her specimen signature to the bank.

The Ministry/ Department /Office where the Government servant last served is the pension sanctioning authority. The pension fixation is made by such authority for the first time and thereafter the refixation of pay, if any, is done by the pension paying bank based on the instructions from the Central/ State Government authorities.

The concerned pension paying authorities in the Ministries /Departments/ State Governments forward the PPOs to the bank where from the pensioner desires to draw his/her pension.

The disbursement of pension by paying branch is spread over the last four working days of the month depending on the convenience of the pension paying branch except for the month of March when the pension is credited on or after the first working day of April.

The payment of pension, in respect of PPOs received at Centralized Pension Processing Cell (CPPC) up to one week before last date of a month, will normally commence from the same month provided the necessary pension documents are executed by Pensioner and received along with PPOs. In case, the Pension documents are not received by CPPC along with PPOs, the pension payment shall be commenced/started only after obtaining  pension documents from pension payment branch (Home Branch).

Payment of arrears, on account of revision of pension etc., received at Centralized Pension Processing Cell (CPPC) of the Bank shall be paid in the subsequent month along with monthly pension payment.

Letter of undertaking, Life certificate, Non employment certificate and non- marriage certificate (In family pensioner).

• Pensioner can transfer his/ her pension account from one branch to another branch of the same bank within the same centre or at a different centre;
• He/ She can transfer his/ her account from one authorized bank to another within the same centre (such transfers to be allowed only once in a year);
• He/ She can also transfer his/ her account from one authorized bank to another authorized bank at different centre.

If the pensioner is physically handicapped/incapacitated and unable to present at the branch, the requirement of personal appearance is waived. In such cases the bank official visits the pensioner’s residence/hospital for the purpose of identification and obtaining specimen signature or thumb/toe impression.

Yes. The pensioner is required to furnish a Life Certificate/Non – Employment Certificate or Employment Certificate to the bank in the month of November. However, in case a pensioner is unable to obtain a Life Certificate from an authorized bank officer on account of serious illness / incapacitation, bank official will visit his/her residence/ hospital for the purpose of recording the life certificate.

In case of Senior Pensioners of the age of 80 years and above, Government has advised to submit/obtain their Life Certificate w.e.f. 01st October, every year, instead of November which would be valid till 30th November of the subsequent year.

In respect of beneficiaries of Swatantra Sainik Samman Yojana (SSSY) aged 80 years and above, Government has advised to submit/obtain their Life Certificate in the month of May, and November which would be valid for six months till it is due in November and May respectively.

Yes, as under.

Pensioner can submit DLC from his residence he/she is having a PC/Laptop with Internet

 connection and Registered Biometric Device

If life certificate is not submitted in the month of November of a year, payment of pension for December and onwards is not being paid to the pensioner, in accordance with the instructions of the Govt.

Once the Life Certificate is updated in the Pension System, pension will be paid along with arrears immediately on the next pension payment.

Yes, Pensioner, who produces a Life Certificate in the prescribed form in Annexure-XVII signed by any person specified hereunder, is exempted from personal appearance.

A person exercising the powers of a Magistrate under the Criminal Procedure code;

A Registrar or Sub-Registrar appointed under Indian Registration Act;

A Gazette Government servant;

A Police Officer not below the rank of Sub-Inspector in-charge of a Police Station;

A Postmaster, a departmental Sub-Postmater or an inspector of Post Offices;

A Class-I Officer of the Reserve Bank of India.

A Pensioned Officer who, before retirement, exercised the powers of a magistrate

A Justice of Peace

A Block Development Officer, Munsif, Tehsildar or Naib Tehsildar

A Head of Village Panchayat, Gram Panchayat, Gaon Panchayat or an Executive Committee of a Village

A Member of Parliament, of State legislatures or of legislatures of Union Territory Governments/Administrations

Treasury Officer.

In the case of a pensioner drawing his pension through a Public Sector Bank the Life Certificate may be signed by an officer of a Public Sector Bank.

In the case of pensioner residing abroad and drawing his pension through any other Bank included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India, Act, 1934, the Life Certificate may be signed by an officer of the Bank.

Further, a pensioner not resident in India in respect of whom his duly authorized agent produces a Life Certificate signed by a Magistrate, a Notary, a Banker or a Diplomatic Representative of India is exempted from special appearance.

Pensioner is required to submit the following information:

Aadhaar No. is required for submitting the Digital Life Certificate through Jeevan

Pramaan:

Present Address:

Telephone Number (if any)

Mobile Number (if any) this is required for sending pension slip and other useful message through SMS.

PAN (Income Tax) this is required for the proper calculation of TDS.

Date of birth of the spouse (with proof) this is a requirement of Government.

E-Mail address, for sending pension related information i.e. monthly pension slip etc.

NRI Pensioner needs to submit a declaration at the pension paying branch that he/she is an NRI. On the basis of declaration the existing account will be converted into a Non Resident - Ordinary (NRO) account ( a type of account for NRI) and NRI pensioner need to send a life certificate every year in the month of November to his/her pension paying branch.

In the case of pensioner residing abroad and drawing his pension through any bank included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India, Act, 1934, the life certificate may be signed by an officer of the Bank. Further, a pensioner not resident in India in respect of whom his duly authorized agent produces a Life Certificate signed by a Magistrate, a Notary, a Banker or a Diplomatic Representative of India is exempted from special appearance.

The pension paying bank is responsible for deduction of Income Tax from pension amount in accordance with the rates prescribed by the Income Tax authorities from time to time. While deducting such tax from the pension amount, the paying bank will also allow deductions on account of relief to the pensioner available under the Income Tax Act. The paying branch will also issue to the pensioner in April each year a certificate of tax deduction as per the prescribed form.

The family pension commences after the death of the pensioner. The family pension is payable to the person indicated in the PPO on receipt of a death certificate and application from the nominee.

The Home Branch through which pension had been paid to the pensioner will be the contact point in the case of Family Pension also. The family member of pensioner, as indicated in the PPO, has to visit the Branch from where the pension was being released every month, with the following documents:

Death Certificate of the pensioner (original plus one photocopy) the original will be returned after verification by the bank.

Non remarriage certificate and non-employment certificate to be submitted.

Simple declaration to be attested by the Bank official or any gazetted officer. The Performa will be available at the Branch.

Life Certificate of the family pensioner along with other mandatory Certificates and

An Undertaking if FMA granted to Central Civil Pensioner on prescribed proforma (These Certificates and Undertaking are also mandatory to submit to Bank once every year in the month of November).

Once all the documents are processed, the family pension will start from next month and the same will be paid along with arrears if any.

At the time of retirement, pensioners have the option to select Fixed Medical Allowance or Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) Treatment Facility. If a Central Govt. Pensioner is not a member of CGHS and opted for Fixed Medical Allowance, the Fixed Medical Allowance may be granted to the pensioner and will be paid on the monthly basis. In this regard pensioner has to submit an undertaking on prescribed proforma every year along with other necessary Certificates.

However if the pensioner wants to change the option or to know the other provisions/ details regarding CGHS etc., may contact his/her Department.

Whenever any additional relief on pension/family pension is sanctioned by the Government, the same is intimated to the agency banks for issuing suitable instructions to their pension paying branches for payment of relief at the revised rates to the pensioners without any delay. The orders issued by Govt. Departments are also hosted on their websites and banks have been advised to watch the latest instructions on the website and act accordingly without waiting for any further orders from RBI in this regard.

The pensioner can visit the Official Website of the concerned Government Department as also Reserve Bank of India Website (www.rbi.org.in) to get the information about pension related issues.

Yes, the functionality of printing PPO No. in the Passbook by the system enabled along with other details on the 1st page itself.

The pension received by original pensioner is called superannuation and the pension received by family pensioner is called family pensioner.

The original pensioner gets the pension for life while the family pensioner gets the pension as mentioned in the PPO.

This is the lump-sum amount, calculated by pension sanctioning authority only, given to the pensioner at the time of retirement or later also. This amount is recovered in 15 years.

Commutation is restored after 15 years of payment of Commutation value.   Commutation value can be given more than once, hence, restoration of commutation is done separately for different commutation value from the different dates of payment.

Additional pension is besides the basic pension given to the pensioner after the attaining the age of 80 years.

Additional pension for Central Government Pensioners is given at the following rates.

1. After attaining the age of 80 years-  20% of basic pension.
2. After attaining the age of 85 years-  30% of basic pension.
3. After attaining the age of 90 years-  40% of basic pension.
4. After attaining the age of 95 years-  50% of basic pension.
5. After attaining the age of 100 years-  100% of basic pension.

Note: for State Govt pension, follow the age criteria guidelines of State GOVT.

Additional pension is credited automatically. It is directly related to the date of birth of pensioner. We should check the date of birth and modify it as the PPO.

Date of birth shall be updated as per PPO only. If there is any difference as per other KYC documents, pensioner should contact pension sanctioning authority for sanction corrigendum PPO with correct Date of Birth. PDA can consider the date of birth as per KYC documents for only 6 months.

Yes, Additional pension attracts DA/DR.

Yes, additional pension is paid to family pensioner also.

Pension is reduced due to several reasons, for example- Deduction of TDS, monthly recovery, pension got transferred form enhanced pension to normal pension, etc.

Enhanced basic pension is equals to superannuation basic pension.

Normal basic pension is 60 % of superannuation basic pension or enhanced basic pension.

Normally enhanced rate of basic pension is given up to 7 years after the date of death of original pensioner or 67 years from the date of birth of original pensioner, whichever is earlier. In special case these period may vary and we should act according to the PPO.

TDS is applicable as per the rule of Income Tax department prevailing for all the individuals.

No, TDS is not deducted in commutation and gratuity.

Gratuity Award Winner, pensioners who receives disability element and family pensioner are exempted from TDS.

Yes, old tax regime or new tax regime is applicable for the pensioner also.

New tax regime is default tax regime for the pensioner.

Yes, pension pay slip is forwarded automatically to all those pensioners whose mail id is registered.

SPARSH (System of Pension administration, RAKSHA) is a new programme initiated by Govt. of India. All the Defence pension are being migrated to SPARSH. Now SPARSH will be PDA of the Defence pensioners and it will process and pay the pension.

SPARSH cell will provide pension details along with pension pay slip to the pensioner.

Pensioner can view their pension paid details through its website.

SPARSH Cell will convert the normal pension into family pension of SPARSH migrated pensioner.

Family pensioner will have to upload all the required details in the website of SPARSH. SPARSH cell, then, automatically convert it form their end

The account is not allowed to be operated by a holder of Power of Attorney. However, the cheque book/ATM/INB facility and acceptance of standing instructions for transfer of funds from the account is permissible.