The Government has observed that the first payment of pension after retirement gets delayed mainly due to two reasons. One, the delay in receipt of intimation by the pensioner that pension papers have reached the bank and two, delay on part of the pensioner in approaching the bank for submission of undertaking that he shall refund or make good any amount to which he is not entitled. In a recent workshop with Pension Secretaries of State Governments, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions stated that the Government had decided that the required “Undertaking” may be obtained by the Head of Office from the retiring Government servant and forwarded to the pension disbursing bank along with the Pension Payment Order (PPO). The bank shall credit the pension to the account of the pensioner as soon as this Undertaking is received along with the pension documents. The pensioner would no longer be required to visit the bank to activate the first payment of pension.
This change in procedure has one additional advantage that the PPO can now be handed over in person to the retiring employee along with other retirement dues. Earlier the pensioner had to approach the bank to his copy of PPO. With this change in rules and procedures, the pensioners would be saved considerable inconvenience and delay and his pension will commence as soon as he retires. This and other reform initiatives were brought forth by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in his meeting with the Pension Secretaries of State Governments held on June 12, 2014.