Calculation of Family pension and Death Gratuity if a Government Employee dies within Penalty Period

In an office memorandum dated December 9, 2021, the Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare spelled out procedures for calculating family pension and death gratuity when a government pensioner dies during the currency of a penalty. The family pension and death gratuity will be calculated on the basis of the real salary to which he or she would be entitled if the penalty had not been imposed, according to the memorandum.

The term "penalty" refers to the period during which a government employee's salary is lowered as a result of disciplinary action taken against him or her. The salary is decreased for a set amount of time, and the impact is restricted to the time period mentioned in the penalty order.

It has been noticed that calculating family pension and death gratuity based on real pay drawn in the event of death during the currency of a penalty referred to in paragraph 3 above would result in a lower death gratuity and a lower family pension for the widow/family. It's possible that the disciplinary authority didn't intend for this to happen when they imposed the penalty. As a result, in circumstances where the disciplinary authority's objective was to limit the punishment's effects on a Government employee who died while the penalty was in effect,

As a result, in cases where a Government servant dies while serving a penalty for which he would have regained the same pay if the penalty had not been imposed on him, the family pension and death gratuity in respect of such Government servant shall be calculated based on the notional pay to which he would have been entitled on the date of death, and such notional pay may be treated as emoluments for the term of the penalty.

For example, suppose the penalty is enforced for four months, from October to January, and the government employee's income is reduced to Rs 10,000. However, the salary was Rs 15,000 before the penalty period, which began in October. If a government employee dies in December, the family pension and death gratuity for the person's family would be computed on a Rs 15,000 basis rather than a Rs 10,000 one (penalty pay).

Emoluments are calculated for the purpose of family pension under the Central Civil Services (CCS) Pension Rules, 1972, on the basis of basic pay received by the government employee immediately before retirement or date of death, or on the basis of average emoluments drawn by the government servant during the last 10 months of his service.

The given order is effective immediately, and previous cases will not be reopened. However, instances where a government employee died before these instructions were issued but the family pension and death gratuity had not yet been calculated may be resolved in line with these instructions. The CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, will be amended individually if necessary.