7th Pay Commission: Death-cum-Retirement Benefits rules for AIS changed. Notification details here

7th Pay Commission Central Government Employees Latest News July 2023: The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has amended All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958. The amended rules came into effect on 6th July 2023 and are called All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Amendment Rules, 2023.

As per the Gazette notification dated 6th July 2023, the following are important details of changes made to All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Amendment Rules.

Change in rule 2 [in sub-rule (1), in clause (aa), for the Note (viii)]

Where a member of service, immediately before his retirement or death while in service, was on leave, and earned an increment which was not withheld, such increment, though not actually drawn, shall be included in his emoluments or average emoluments.

Changes in rule 3

General Conditions – (1) Future good conduct shall be an implied condition of every grant of pension and its continuance under these rules.

2) The Central Government may withhold or withdraw a pension or a part thereof, for a specified period or indefinitely, either on a reference from the State Government concerned or otherwise, if after retirement, a pensioner is convicted of a serious crime or be guilty of grave misconduct:

• Provided that no such order shall be passed without consulting the Union Public Service Commission.
• Provided further that where a part of pension is withheld or withdrawn, the amount of such pension shall not be reduced below the amount of minimum pension.

3) Where a pensioner is convicted of a serious crime by a Court of Law, action under sub-rule (2) shall be taken in the light of the judgment of the court relating to such conviction.

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4) In a case not falling under sub-rule (3), if the Central Government considers that the pensioner is prima facie guilty of grave misconduct, he shall, before passing an order under sub-rule (2), –

(a) serve upon the pensioner a notice specifying the action proposed to be taken against him and the ground on which it is proposed to be taken and calling upon him to submit, within fifteen days of the receipt of the notice or such further time not exceeding fifteen days, as may be allowed by the Central Government, such representation, as he may wish to make against the proposal; and

b) take into consideration the representation, if any, submitted by the pensioner under clause (a).

5) The decision of the Central Government on any question of withholding or withdrawing the whole or any part of the pension under sub-rule (2) shall be final.

Restriction on publishing after retirement

The amended rules also restrict a member of the service, who has worked in any Intelligence or Security-related organisation included in the Second Schedule to the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005), from publishing any material related to the following after retirement without prior clearance from the head of such organisations.

i. domain of the organisation, including any reference or information about any personnel and his designation, and expertise or knowledge gained by virtue of working in that organisation; and

(ii) sensitive information, the disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State or relation with a foreign State, or which would lead to incitement of an offence.

Further, any appeal against an order passed by the Central Government under sub-rule (2) shall lie to the President and the President shall, in consultation with the Union Public Service Commission, pass such orders on the appeal as may be deemed fit.

Changes in rule 22

In sub-rule 7, the following proviso shall be inserted in Explanation 1:

― Provided that the family pension shall be payable to a divorced daughter from the date of divorce if the divorce proceedings were filed in a competent court during the life time of the member of service or pensioner or his or her spouse but the divorce took place after their death.”

b) in Explanation 4, the following proviso shall be inserted,

―Provided that a child or sibling suffering from a mental or physical disability shall be deemed to be not earning his or her livelihood, if his or her overall income from sources other than family pension is less than the entitled family pension under sub-rule (2) and the dearness relief admissible thereon, payable on death of the member of service or pensioner concerned.”

Explanation 6 has been omitted.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and based on the Gazette notification. There are several other changes that you can check in the notification available on the DoPT’s website.