Pay and pensions

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been stressing the need to change the procedures relating to grant of pay, leave salary and pension to eliminate irksome delays. These delays have in many cases caused severe hardship to a large number of people. The new procedures to simplify and streamline the system will, therefore, be welcomed both by the pensioners and those who are still in service. The present practice of drawing the salaries of gazetted officers only on the basis of pay slips from the Accountant General’s office is a relic of the past. This is now to be given up. Instead, the head of the office will draw pay, leave salary and allowances of these officers as in the case of any other staffer and disburse the amounts. Service records, including the leave accounts of gazetted officers, now kept in the Accountant General’s office, will be transferred to the department offices. The pension of all Central Government staff will now be calculated on the basis of the average emoluments of the last 10 months instead of 36 months. This will not only lead to quicker calculations of entitlements but also slightly raise the amount of the pension itself. The preparation of all pension papers will start eight months before the date of retirement. Whatever be the stage of completion of these papers, they will be sent to the Accountant General’s office six months before the date of retirement, and the Accountant General’s office shall issue the pension payment orders one month in advance of the date of retirement. The main thrust of this decision is that pensioners will not be made to suffer for the lapses of the administration and the responsibility of maintaining the service books will be squarely placed on the department itself.