RELEASE OF DA ARREARS TO CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND PENSIONERS - LOK SABHA Q&A DTD 13.03.2023

 

Implication of OM of Government for bringing NPS officials to OPS

Recently the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare (Central Government) on 3.3.2023 had issued an OM on coverage of CG Employees in OPS, if they were recruited for the vacancies advertised or notified for recruitment on or before 22.12.2003. Many queries are being raised about the OM and we want to clarify the issue here.

1.     Earlier the NPS was notified to the effect that all Civilian Employees appointed on or after 1.1.2004 to the posts under Central Government are mandatorily covered by NPS.

2.     The CCS Pension Rules were also amended subsequently through Notification dated 30/12/2003 so that the CCS Pension Rules are applicable to Government Employees appointed after 31.12.2003.

3.     Subsequently, by another OM dated 17/02/2020, one-time option was given to employees, who were declared successful for recruitment on or before 31.12.2003 against vacancies occurred prior to 1.1.2004 to change over from NPS to OPS.

4.     Representations were supposedly received from many by citing Court Orders etc that the benefit should be extended to all who were recruited towards advertised / notified vacancies while there was no NPS in existence.

5.     Accordingly now it has been decided that all CG Employees recruited towards advertised / notified vacancies prior to notification of the OM dated 22.12.2003 and joined in service on or after 1.1.2004 and therefore brought under NPS are given one-time option to switch from NPS to OPS.

6.     This option is to be exercised before 31/08/2023 and the option once exercised is final.

7.     Those employees who do not give their option before 31.08.2023 shall continue to be covered under NPS.

8.     Necessary orders will be issued by the appointing authorities of such officials who give their option from NPS to OPS and actually covered under the above Rules before 31.10.2023.

9.     Once Orders are issued as above, the NPS accounts will be closed with effect from 31.12.2023.

10.  Such Officials shall have to subscribe to the individual’s GPF scheme. The amount in NPS shall be adjusted and credited  in their individual GPF account and up to date interest will also be credited. There is noting mentioned in the OM about any handing over of money to the said officials but all their contribution till date shall be adjusted in their individual GPF account.

11.  The Government contribution to NPS towards such officials and the increased value of subscription on account of appreciation of investments will be credited into Government account.

12.  Though this OM specifically do not mention anything about the Retired Officials who were covered as per the OM of the Department of Pension, our interpretation is that the OM is automatically applies to any retired official also if he was recruited as per the advertisement / notification made by any department before the issue of Notification of NPS on 22.12.2003. If there is any hitch, the NCCPA shall intervene with the Government.

 The crux of the OM is as above. Please be clear that the NPS is not taken back by the Central Government for all CG Employees but only to that section of CG Employees who were recruited as  per notification prior to 22.12.2003 when NPS rules were not promulgated. This is also as per Court interventions. All other Officials who were recruited as per advertisements / notifications released on or after the date of NPS notification (i.e., 22.12.2003) will be brought under NPS only. The fight to force the Central Government from total withdrawal of NPS for all employees and workers entered the Government service after the 22.12.2003 Notification continue. – KR Secretary General NCCPA

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 PIB

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

06.03.2023

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, all portals like Pension Disbursing Bank portals, ANUBHAV, CPENGRAMS, CGHS will be integrated in a single portal in the form of the newly created “Integrated Pensioners’ Portal” to ensure “Ease of Living for the elder citizens”.”

Addressing the Bankers Awareness Workshop in Bhopal, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in tune with Vision of Prime Minister for an “Integrated Approach to bring Ease of Living”, the move will mitigate the problems faced by the pensioners

Says, all 18 Pension disbursing banks will be integrated in Integrated Pensioners’ Portal

Pension Department has undertaken a Nation-wide Digital Life Certificate through Face Authentication campaign in the November, 22 which has resulted into 30 lakhs pensioners submitting their life certificate digitally: Dr Jitendra Singh

Posted On: 06 MAR 2023 4:28PM by PIB Delhi

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today informed that the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has decided that all the pension portals like Pension Disbursing Bank portals, ANUBHAV, CPENGRAMS, CGHS etc. will be integrated in a single portal in the form of the newly created “Integrated Pensioners’ Portal” (https://ipension.nic.in) to ensure “Ease of Living for the elder citizens”.

Addressing the Bankers Awareness Workshop in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in tune with Vision of Prime Minister for an “Integrated Approach to bring Ease of Living”, the move will mitigate the problems faced by the pensioners with the banks like Change of bank, Submission of life certificate, Submission of death certificate of pensioners, Pension slip and retrieval of pension slip, Income tax deduction data/form 16, Pension receipt information, the websites of Pension Disbursing Banks will also be integrated with the Integrated Pensioners Portal.

The Minister also pointed out that the task of Integration of Pension Seva Portal of SBI and Canara Bank with Bhavishya portal have been completed. With this integration, the pensioners can now get their pension slip, status of submission of Life Certificate and Form-16 through the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal. He also informed that all 18 Pension disbursing banks will be integrated in Integrated Pensioners’ Portal.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, DoPPW will take care of not only serving/retiring employees but also work for the Ease of Living of our pensioners and Digital Life Certificate is another step towards this direction. He pointed out that in November 2014, an Aadhar based scheme for online submission of digital life certificate, “Jeevan Pramaan” was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure transparency and “Ease of Living” for pensioners while submitting their life certificate.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, initially submission of DLCs using biometric devices was commenced and later, the Department engaged with MeitY to develop the milestone Face-Authentication Technology-based system based on UIDAI Aadhaar software through which it became possible to give DLC from any Android based smart phone. This breakthrough technology has reduced the dependence of pensioners on external bio-metric devices and has made the process more accessible and affordable to masses by leveraging biometric systems available on smartphones, he added.

The Minister informed that the Pension Department has undertaken a Nation-wide Digital Life Certificate through Face Authentication campaign in the November, 22 which has resulted into 30 lakhs pensioners submitting their life certificate digitally.

Secretary, Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, Shri V.Srinivas said in his address that DoPPW has commenced a series of awareness programs for Bankers with a view to provide information about the latest pension rules/procedures reforms and welfare initiatives to Bank’s field functionaries, handling pensions. He said, in line with the Government’s objective of transparency, digitization and service delivery, the Bhavishya platform has ensured End-to-End digitization of the Pension processing and payment. From the retiree filing his/her papers online till issue of the PPO in electronic format going into the Digilocker, this platform has showcased the intention of complete transparency and efficiency of the Government. The ‘Bhavishya’ platform, an integrated online pension processing system was made mandatory for all central government departments w.e.f. 01.01.2017.

 

 This system is at present being successfully implemented in the main Secretariat of 97 Ministries/ Departments including 818 Attached Offices, 7,941 DDOs on board. As on date, more than 1,89,494 cases have been processed i.e. PPOs issued which includes more than 1,23,249 e-PPOs.

PPO in Digilocker and eliminates delays in forwarding PPO to new Pensioners, as well as the necessity of handing over a physical copy. Considering that a very large number of retirees are from CAPFs who serve in far flung areas of the country, such software is a boon both in terms of Ease of processing as well as speed and accuracy in pension processing.

It may be recalled that the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has bagged the 3^rd Rank for BHAVISHYA (An online tracking system for pension sanction and payment developed by DOPPW) as per the NeSDA Assessment 2021 among all the Central Government e-Governance Service Delivery Portals. The ranking is based on Accessibility, Content Availability, Ease of Use, Information Security & Privacy, End Service Delivery, Integrated Service Delivery, Status & Request Tracking. It’s very creditable to be able to achieve rank 3 on the basis of these parameters.

This Awareness programs also provide a platform for strategizing and conceiving new initiatives for the benefit of Pensioners. This facilitated introduction of the path for integration of Bhavishya Portal with the pension paying portals of the Banks. So far State Bank of India and Canara Bank has integrated their portals with Bhavishya - IPP and process is on with Punjab National Bank.

The workshops held were an excellent two-way learning process and will go very far in reducing Pensioners' Bank related grievances since the Pension dealing Bank officials were made aware of all the measures/OMs taken/issued by DoPPW for Ease of Living of Pensioners. Such Awareness Programs also convey a strong message of the seriousness of this Department to focus on hitherto neglected expectations of the Pensioners from Banks.

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