Rule 77 - Gratuity & Housing Dues

77. Adjustment of Government dues.- (1) In case of dues pertaining to Government accommodation, the following action shall be taken, namely:-

(i) If on the date of death or disappearance, the Government servant was allottee of Government accommodation, the Head of Office, on receipt of intimation or information regarding the death or disappearance of the Government servant shall, within seven days of the receipt of such intimation or information, forward the available details regarding the Government accommodation, to the Directorate of Estates and request the Directorate of Estates for issuing a `No demand certificate' in respect of the deceased or missing Government servant so that authorisation of family pension and gratuity is not delayed and the Head of Office shall also supply the following information to the Directorate of Estates, namely:-

(a) name of the deceased or missing Government servant with designation;

(b) particulars of the existing accommodation along with available details of any other accommodation, which was in occupation of the Government servant in the past (Quarter number, type and locality);

(c) date of death or disappearance of Government servant;

(d) whether the Government servant was on leave at the time of his death or disappearance and, if so, the period and nature of leave;

Government servant was enjoying rent-free accommodation;

(f) the period up to which licence fee had been recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased or missing Government servant and the monthly rate of recovery and particulars of the pay bill under which last recovery was made;

(g) if the licence fee had not been recovered up to the date of death or disappearance and the family intends to retain Government accommodation for the permissible period thereafter, details of the -

(A) period for which licence fee has not been recovered; amount of licence fee in respect of the period at (A) to be determined on the basis of the standard rent bill;

(C) the amount of licence fee for the retention of Government accommodation by the family of the deceased or missing Government servant for the permissible concessional period beyond the date of death or disappearance of the Government servant to be determined on the basis of standard bill;

(D) the amount of licence fee mentioned at (C) proposed to be recovered out of gratuity;

(E) details of any previous reference from the Directorate of Estates having bearing on the recovery of licence fee outstanding against the allottee and action taken thereon.

(ii) While calculating the dues in respect of the Government accommodation, the dues pertaining to outstanding licence fee payable in respect of the period before the date of death of the Government servant shall be waived off and if the Government accommodation is retained by the family of the deceased Government servant after his death, the licence fee for the month in which the Government servant has died and the first three months thereafter, shall not be recovered from the family.

(iii) The Head of Office shall recover from the gratuity the amount of licence fee as intimated to the Directorate of Estates under clause

(i) and clause (ii).

(iv) The recovery of licence fee for the occupation of Government accommodation beyond the permissible concessional period shall be the responsibility of the Directorate of Estates.

(v) The Directorate of Estates shall scrutinise their records with a view to determine if any dues other than the licence fee referred to in clause

(i) was outstanding against deceased or missing Government servant and if any recovery is found, the amount and the period or periods to which such recovery or recoveries relate shall be communicated to the Head of Office within a period of one month of the receipt of intimation from Head of Office under clause

(i) regarding the death or disappearance of the Government servant.

(vi) Pending receipt of information under clause (v), the Head of Office shall withhold ten per cent of the death gratuity.

(vii) If no intimation is received by the Head of Office regarding recovery of outstanding dues or the Directorate of Estates expresses its inability to assess the outstanding dues within the period specified under clause (v), it shall be presumed that nothing was recoverable from the deceased or missing Government servant and the amount of gratuity withheld shall be paid to the person or persons to whom the amount of gratuity was paid.

(viii) If the Head of Office has received intimation from the Directorate of Estates under clause

(v) regarding dues outstanding against the deceased or missing Government servant, the Head of Office shall verify from the acquaintance rolls if the outstanding amount was recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased Government servant and if as a result of verification, it is found that the amount of dues shown as outstanding by the Directorate of Estates, had already been recovered, the Head of Office shall draw the attention of the Directorate of Estates to the pay bills under which the necessary recovery of the licence fee was made and subject to the provisions of sub-rule (2) take steps to pay the amount of the gratuity withheld under clause

(vi) to the person or persons to whom the gratuity was paid.

(ix) If the outstanding amount of dues was not recovered from the pay and allowances of the deceased or missing Government servant, the outstanding amount shall be adjusted against the amount of the gratuity withheld under clause

(vi) and the balance, if any, repaid to the person or persons to whom the amount of gratuity was paid.

(x) Any amount of licence fee or damages, remaining unpaid after adjustment from the withheld amount of gratuity and any dues intimated by the Directorate of Estates after the amount of gratuity has been paid, may be ordered to be recovered by the Head of Office through the Accounts Officer concerned from the dearness relief without the consent of the family pensioner and in such cases no dearness relief shall be disbursed until full recovery of such dues has been made.

(2) In case of dues other than those referred to in sub-rule (1), the Head of Office shall, within fifteen days of the receipt of intimation regarding death or disappearance of a Government servant, take steps to ascertain if any dues as referred to in rule 67, excluding the dues pertaining to the allotment of Government accommodation were recoverable from the deceased or missing Government servant and such ascertainable dues shall be recovered from the amount of gratuity becoming payable to the family of the deceased or missing Government servant.

What This Means

This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.

Key Points

• 1Applies when the Directorate of Estates claims outstanding dues from a deceased government employee related to government housing.
• 2The Head of Office must verify if the claimed dues were already recovered from the employee's salary.
• 3If the dues were already recovered, the Head of Office must inform the Directorate of Estates and take steps to release the withheld gratuity.
• 4This rule aims to ensure timely payment of gratuity to the family of the deceased after verifying the dues status.
• 5The rule emphasizes the importance of checking acquaintance rolls and pay bills for evidence of recovery.

Practical Example

This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.

Cross References

Frequently Asked Questions

This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.