No.20/1611998-P&PW
(F)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel
Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Pension
and Pensioners Welfare
3′d Floor, Lok Nayak
Bhawan,
Khan Market, New
Delhi-110 003
Dated the 11th July,
2013.
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Withholding
of 10% gratuity from the retiring Government servants — clarification regarding.
The undersigned is directed to
refer to this Department’s OM of even number dated the 19th February 2013 on
the above cited subject and to say that this Department is still receiving
representations from individuals and Pensioners Associations that Government
Departments have been withholding 10% of the amount of gratuity from retirees
even when they had not been provided any Government accommodation. This is in
contravention of existing instructions.
2 The recovery and adjustment of Govt. dues from retirement
gratuity is regulated under Rules 71 to 73 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.
Rule (1) to (3) of Rule 72 ibid provide for recovery of actual amount of Govt.
dues in respect of Govt. accommodation from pay & allowances before
retirement and from Retirement Gratuity. Sub rule (5) of Rule 72 ibid
stipulates that if, in any particular case, it is not possible for the
Directorate of Estates to determine the outstanding licence fee, that
Directorate shall inform the Head of Office that ten per cent of gratuity may
be withheld pending receipt of further information. Further, if no Government
accommodation is allotted to a Government servant, in accordance with Dte of
Estate’s OM No.18011/5/1990-Pol-III dated
12.10.2010, it is for the Administrative Ministry to issue an `NDC”.
3. As regards recovery in respect of ‘Govt. dues’ other than
those pertaining to Govt.accommodation, the Head of Office is required to complete
assessment of such dues eight months prior to the date of retirement [Rule
73(2)]. The actual amount of such dues and the dues which come to notice
subsequently and remain outstanding are to be adjusted against the amount of
retirement gratuity becoming payable to the Govt. servant on retirement.
4. It is, therefore, clear that there is no provision for
withholding any part of gratuity at the time of retirement for the purpose of
recovery of outstanding government dues other than those pertaining to government
accommodation and the onus of timely collection of license fee is on the
Directorate of Estates. If the Directorate of Estate does not specifically
inform the Administrative Department of the outstanding dues and requests for
withholding of 10% gratuity for the outstanding license fee, Gratuity cannot be
withheld on this account. The only other circumstance under which gratuity can
be withheld is in case of ongoing disciplinary proceedings against the
Government servant. Thus the Pay and Accounts Officer shall not withhold any
gratuity unless the Head of Office
(a) encloses instructions received from Directorate of
Estate for withholding of 10% gratuity for outstanding license fee or
(b) Informs of ongoing disciplinary proceedings.
These instructions are for strict compliance of all
Administrative Ministries/ Departments.
5. A revised FORM 8 — form of letter to the Accounts Officer
forwarding the pension papers ofGovernment servant is also enclosed. Formal
amendment in the CCS(Pension) Rules for revised Form 8 will be notified later.
sd/-
(Tripti P.Ghosh)
Director (PP)
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