Employees retiring during COVID-19 period to get provisional pension till PPO issued

Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 27

The central government on Monday announced that those employees retiring during COVID-19 pandemic would get “provisional” pension till their regular Pension Payment Order (PPO) is issued and other official formalities completed.

Union Minister for Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) Jitendra Singh said: “After the Modi Government took over, the Department of Pensions had upgraded and equipped itself to deliver the PPO to the concerned employee without delay and on the day of his or her superannuation”.

The Minister, however, said, because of the disruption in the official work due to COVID pandemic and lockdown some of the employees who had retired during this period “may not have been provided with PPO”.

“But, as an evidence of the present government’s sensitivity towards the pensioners and the senior citizens, a decision was taken that in order to avoid a delay in the start of regular pension covered under CCS (Pension Rules) 1972, the rules may be relaxed to enable seamless payment of ‘Provisional Pension’ and ‘Provisional Gratuity’ till the regular PPO is issued,” he said.

As per the OM (Office Memorandum) issued by Department of Pensions, affiliated to the DoPT, the payment of “Provisional Pension” will initially continue for a period of six months from the date of retirement and the period of “Provisional Pension” may be further extended up to one year in exceptional cases, an official statement read, while adding that these instructions “shall also be applicable in cases where a government servant retires otherwise than on superannuation i.e. voluntary retirement, retirement under FR 56, etc”.