Para 14.1 — Chapter 14 deals with pension verification and pay

MSO (A&E)mso-ae

14.1 The term “Pension” used in the following paragraphs includes Gratuity except when the term pension is used in contradistinction to gratuity. 14.2 The verification of pension consists in seeing that the qualifying conditioins governing the grant of a pension are fulfilled and that the amount of pension sanctioned is correct. 14.3 The provisions contained in this chapter apply mainly to Accounts Offices subordinate to the Comptroller and Auditor General. In case of departments, e.g. Defence and Railways, where accounts are kept by an agency not under the control of the Comptroller and Auditor General, or in case of Union and State Governments where pension entitlement work has been taken over by the respective Government, the reports on the admissibility of claims for pension are prepared in Accounts Offices of those departments/Governments. The work done in the accounts Offices other than those subordinate to the Comptroller and Auditor General is however, subject to test check by Audit Offices subordinate to the Comptroller and Auditor General.
14.4
(a) On receipt of a pension case of a non-gazetted Government Servant the period of service reckoned as service qualifying for pension (including leave
- CHAPTER 14
- PENSION
of all kinds) should be checked with reference to his service book. If any vital particulars are missing they should be called for from the Head of Office.
14.4
(b) For verifying the services of Gazetted Government Servants, the printed History of Services should be used. If part of the service be nongazetted, such part should be verified in the manner prescribed in sub-para
(a) above.
14.4
(c) In the case of a Government Servant who has been on foreign service, the period of service claimed for such employment should be verified from the particulars already recorded in the Service Book. In the case of a Gazetted Government Servant on foreign service, the period of service will be verified from the particulars recorded in the History of Services (vide paragraph 13.58).
Note.-No re-check of Service Book in regard to the pay fixation in different scale of pay during the official career would normally be undertaken at the time of examining titles to pensions and gratuity except in cases where pay has been fixed in a different scale during the last one year preceding the date of retirement. The check of fixation of pay in such cases will be done by the office of the Accountant General (A&E).
# PREPARATION AND ISSUE OF PENSION PAYMENT ORDERS
14.5
(a) The Pension Rules of many of the State Governments provide that an authority which is competent to sanction a pension should, when forwarding the
application to the Accountant General record on the application his orders as to whether the service is satisfactory and is approved for the grant of full pension admissible under the rules or whether the service has not been thoroughly satisfactory and what reduction for that reason should be made from the full pension or gratuity admissible under the rules. In such cases, the Accountant General after due verification of service should issue the pension payment order forthwith on the basis of the amount found admissible by him.
14.5
(b) In the case of some of the State Governments, however, the rules provide that the authority competent to sanction the pension should, wherever possible, record on the pension application its provisional recommendation stating whether the pension should be admitted or not. In such cases if the Accountant General certifies that the claim is in order, he should issue a provisional Pension Payment Order, informing the officer that the Pension Payment Order is provisional and is subject to the formal sanction of the pension by the competent authority. He should also send a formal report to the competent sanctioning authority alongwith intimation of the issue of the Pension Payment Order and the report should also call special attention to the relevant regulations of the State Government. He should ensure that the final sanction of the competent authority is accorded as early as possible.
14.5
(c) In other cases where no recommendation regarding grant of pension is made by the competent authority on the pension application, the Accountant General after verifying the service and the fulfilment of the qualifying conditions, certifies the amount of pension admissible under the
NOTE:-Pension Payment Orders in the type of cases mentioned in (a),
(b) and
(c) above should not be issued more than a fortnight (or such other period as may be prescribed by the Government concerned) in advance of the date on which the Officer is due to retire. The Accountant General should also watch the receipt of the report from the head of the office or department about any event occurring prior to the actual retirement which may necessitate the recalculation of the amount of pension involving the issue of a revised Pension Payment Order, if necessary.
relevant rules and returns the pension to the authority competent to sanction claim to pension. On receipt of the order granting pension, it should be checked by the Accountant General with the final report submitted by him and he should then issue the necessary Pension Payment Order.
14.5
(d) In certain cases a competent authority can sanction claims to pension without previous reference to the office of the Accountant General. In such cases, the Accountant General should satisfy himself that the amount sanctioned is correct and that the rules governing the grant of pension in question have been properly applied, before arranging for the payment of pension sanctioned.

What This Means

Chapter 14 deals with pension verification and payment. The term 'pension' here includes gratuity unless explicitly distinguished. The AG's role is to verify that qualifying conditions are met and the pension amount is correct. For departments where accounts are kept by agencies outside the CAG's control (like Defence and Railways), or where pension work has been taken over by the Government itself, the AG's subordinate offices conduct test checks on the pension work done by those agencies.