CCS (Payment of Gratuity under National Pension System) Rules 2021 – Gazette Notification
MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
(Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 23rd September, 2021
G.S.R. 658(E). – In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to article 309 and clause (5) of article 148 of the Constitution and after consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India in relation to persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, the President hereby makes the following rules, namely:-
CHAPTER I
1. Short title and commencement.- (1) These rules may be called the Central Civil Services (Payment of Gratuity under National Pension System) Rules, 2021.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
2. Application.- Save as otherwise provided in these rules, these rules shall apply to the Government servants including civilian Government servants in the Defence Services, appointed substantively to civil services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union on or after the 1st day of January 2004, and to whom the Central Civil Services (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021 apply :
Provided that in the case of a Government servant who dies during service or is boarded out on account of disablement or retires on invalidation and who had exercised option under rule 10 of the Central Civil Services (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021 for availing benefits under the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 or the Central Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 1939, payment of gratuity shall be made in accordance with the said rules.
3. Definitions. – In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, –
(1) (a) ‘Accounts Officer’ means an officer, whatever his official designation, of a Ministry or Department functioning under the scheme of departmentalisation of accounts, who, inter-alia is responsible for receipts, payments, Internal Audit and accounting functions of an office or Department or Ministry of the Central Government or Union territory and includes officers subordinate to the Accountant General who is entrusted with the function of maintaining the accounts or part of accounts of the Central Government or Union territory;
(b) ‘allottee’ means a Government servant to whom Government accommodation has been allotted on payment of license fee or otherwise ;
(c) ‘average emoluments’ means average emoluments as determined in accordance with rule 7;
(d) ‘Emoluments’ means emoluments referred to in rule 6;
(e) ‘Form’ means a Form appended to these rules ;
(f) ‘Government’ means the Central Government ;
(g) ‘Government dues’ means dues referred to in sub-rule (3) of rule 45;
(h) ‘gratuity’ includes retirement gratuity and death gratuity payable under these rules;
(i) ‘Minor’ means a person who has not completed the age of eighteen years ;
(j) ‘Qualifying service’ means the service rendered while on duty or otherwise which shall be taken into account
for the purpose of payment of gratuity admissible under these rules;
(k) ‘Service Book’ includes service roll, if any.
(2) Words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Fundamental Rules, 1922 or the Central Civil Services ( Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021 shall have the meanings as respectively assigned to them in those rules.
CHAPTER II
GENERAL CONDITIONS
4. Regulation of claims to gratuity. – (1) Any claim to gratuity shall be regulated by the provisions of these rules in force at the time when a Government servant retires or is retired or is discharged or is allowed to resign from service or dies, as the case may be.
(2) The day on which a Government servant retires or is retired or is discharged or is allowed to resign from service, as the case may be, shall be treated as his last working day and the date of death of a Government servant shall also be treated as a working day.
5. Right of President to withhold gratuity.- (1) The President reserves to himself the right of withholding gratuity, either in full or in part, and of ordering recovery from gratuity of the whole or part of any pecuniary loss caused to the Government, if, in any departmental or judicial proceedings instituted while the Government servant was in service, the retired Government servant is found guilty of grave misconduct or negligence :
Provided that the Union Public Service Commission shall be consulted before any final orders are passed by the President under this rule:
(2) (a) The departmental proceedings referred to in sub-rule (1), shall, after the retirement of the Government servant, be deemed to be proceedings under this rule and shall be continued and concluded by the authority by which they were commenced in the same manner as if the Government servant had continued in service :
Provided that in all cases where the departmental proceedings are instituted by an authority subordinate to the President, that authority shall submit a report recording its findings to the President.
(b) No gratuity shall be payable to the Government servant until the conclusion of the departmental or judicial proceedings referred to in sub-rule (1) and issue of final orders thereon.
(3) The President may at any time, either on his own motion or otherwise call for the records of any inquiry and revise any order made under these rules and may confirm, modify or set aside the order, or remit the case to an authority directing such authority to make such further enquiry as it may consider proper in the circumstances of the case, or pass such other order as he may deem fit :
Provided that no order enhancing the amount of gratuity to be withheld or withdrawn, shall be made.
(4) The President may at any time, either on his own motion or otherwise review any order passed under these rules, where extenuating or special circumstances exist to warrant such review or when any new material or evidence which could not be produced or was not available at the time of passing of the order under review and which has the effect of changing the nature of the case, has come, or has been brought, to his notice :
Provided that no order enhancing the amount of gratuity to be withheld or withdrawn, shall be made.
(5) For the purpose of this rule, –
(a) departmental proceedings shall be deemed to be instituted on the date on which the statement of charges is issued to the Government servant or pensioner, or if the Government servant has been placed under suspension from an earlier date, on such date ; and
(b) judicial proceedings shall be deemed to be instituted –
(i) in the case of criminal proceedings, on the date on which the complaint or report of a police officer, of which the Magistrate takes cognizance, is made, and
(ii) in the case of civil proceedings, on the date the plaint is presented in the court.
CHAPTER III
EMOLUMENTS AND AVERAGE EMOLUMENTS
6. Emoluments.- (1) The expression ‘emoluments’ for the purpose of determining the amount of gratuity payable under these rules shall include the basic pay as defined in rule 9 (21) (a) (i) of the Fundamental Rules, 1922, which a Government servant was receiving immediately before his retirement or on the date of his death and shall also include non-practicing allowance granted to medical officer in lieu of private practice.
Explanation. – For the purposes of this sub-rule, stagnation increment shall be treated as emoluments for calculation of gratuity.
(2) Where a Government servant immediately before his retirement or death while in service had been absent from duty or was on leave for which leave salary is payable or having been suspended had been reinstated without forfeiture of service, the emoluments which he would have drawn had he not been absent from duty or suspended shall be the emoluments for the purposes of this rule:
Provided that any increase in pay [ other than the increment referred to in sub-rule (5)] which is not actually drawn shall not form the part of his emoluments.
(3) Where a Government servant immediately before his retirement or death while in service had proceeded on leave for which leave salary is payable after having held a higher appointment whether in an officiating or temporary capacity, the benefit of emoluments drawn in such higher appointment shall be given only if it is certified that the Government servant would have continued to hold the higher appointment but for his proceeding on leave.
(4) Where a Government servant immediately before his retirement or death while in service had been absent from duty on extraordinary leave or had been under suspension, the period whereof does not count as service, the emoluments which he drew immediately before proceeding on such leave or being placed under suspension shall be the emoluments for the purposes of this rule.
(5) Where a Government servant immediately before his retirement or death while in service, was on earned leave, and earned an increment which was not withheld, such increment though not actually drawn, shall form part of his emoluments :
Provided that the increment was earned during the currency of the earned leave not exceeding one hundred and twenty days, or during the first one hundred and twenty days of earned leave where such leave was for more than one hundred and twenty days.
(6) Pay drawn by a Government servant while on deputation to another Central Government Department and to the Armed Forces of India shall be treated as emoluments.
(7) Pay drawn by a Government servant while on foreign service shall not be treated as emoluments, and the pay which he would have drawn under the Government had he not been on foreign service shall alone be treated as emoluments.
(8) Where a pensioner who is re-employed in Government service and whose pay on re-employment has been reduced by an amount not exceeding his monthly pension, the element of monthly pension by which his pay is reduced shall be treated as emoluments.
7.Average emoluments.- (1) Average emoluments shall be determined with reference to the emoluments drawn by a Government servant during the last ten months of his service.
(2) Where during the last ten months of his service, a Government servant had been absent from duty on leave for which leave salary is payable or having been suspended had been reinstated without forfeiture of service, the emoluments which he would have drawn had he not been absent from duty or suspended shall be taken into account for determining the average emoluments :
Provided that any increase in pay [ other than the increment referred to in sub-rule (4)] which is not actually drawn shall not form the part of his emoluments.
(3) Where during the last ten months of his service, a Government servant had been absent from duty on extraordinary leave, or had been under suspension the period whereof does not count as service, the aforesaid period of leave or suspension shall be disregarded in the calculation of the average emoluments and equal period before the ten months shall be included and in order that the fractions of a month, when added, worked out to one full month, a month for this purpose shall be reckoned as consisting of thirty days.
(4) Where a Government servant who was on earned leave during the last ten months of his service and earned an increment, which was not withheld, such increment though not actually drawn shall be included in the average emoluments :
Provided that the increment was earned during the currency of the earned leave not exceeding one hundred and twenty days or during the first one hundred and twenty days of earned leave where such leave was for more than one hundred and twenty days
CHAPTER IV
QUALIFYING SERVICE
8. Commencement of qualifying service. – Subject to the provisions of these rules, qualifying service of a Government servant shall commence from the date he takes charge of the post to which he is first appointed either substantively or in an officiating or temporary capacity :
Provided that officiating or temporary service is followed without interruption by substantive appointment in the same or another service or post.
Follow us on Telegram Channel, Twitter and Facebook for all latest updates
