Facts on grant of Retirement gratuity and death gratuity for Central Government civil employees

 1.         The Central Government civil employees who joined service on or before 31.12.2003 are granted benefit of Retirement Gratuity /  Death gratuity under the provisions of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972.

2.         The benefit of retirement gratuity and death gratuity have also been extended to Central Government employees joined service on or after 01.01.2004 and covered under National Pension System vide this Department’s OM No. 7/5/2012-P&PW(F/B) dated 26.08.2016 on the same terms and conditions as are applicable under CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972.

3.         As per rule 50 (1) (a) of CCS(Pension) Rules, a Government servant, who has completed five years' qualifying service and has become eligible for service gratuity or pension under Rule 49, shall, on his retirement, be granted retirement gratuity equal to one-fourth of his emoluments for each completed six monthly period of qualifying service, subject to a maximum of 16½ times the emoluments.

4.         As per rule 50(1) (b) of CCS(Pension) Rules, if a Government servant dies while in service, the death gratuity shall be paid to his family in the manner indicated in sub-rule (1) of Rule 51 at the rates given in the Table below, namely:-

Qualifying Service	Rate
Less than one year	2 times of emoluments
One year or more but less than 5 years	6 times of emoluments
5 years or more but less than 11 years	12 times of emoluments
11 years or more but less than 20 years	20 times of emoluments
20 years or more	Half of emoluments for every completed 6 monthly period of qualifying service subject to a maximum of 33 times of emoluments.

 

5.         The amount of retirement gratuity or death gratuity payable under CCS (Pension) Rules shall in no case exceed  twenty lakh rupees.

6.         The expression `emoluments' means basic pay as defined in Rule 9 (21) (a) (i) of the Fundamental Rules which a Government servant was receiving immediately before his retirement or on the date of his death ; and will also include non-practising allowance granted to medical officer in lieu of private practice.

7.         Provided that if the emoluments of a Government servant have been reduced during the last ten months of his service otherwise than as a penalty, average emoluments determined with reference to the emoluments drawn by a Government servant during the last ten months of his service shall be treated as emolument.

8.         The dearness allowance admissible on the date of retirement or death as the case may be, shall also be treated as emoluments for the purpose of grant of gratuity.

9.         For the purposes of grant of gratuity, ‘family', in relation to a Government servant, means - 

(i)	wife or wives including judicially separated wife or wives in the case of a male Government servant,
(ii)	husband, including judicially separated husband in the case of a female Government servant,
(iii)	sons including stepsons and adopted sons,
(iv)	unmarried daughters including stepdaughters and adopted daughters,
(v)	widowed daughters including stepdaughters and adopted daughters,
(vi)	father,	including adoptive parents in the case of individuals whose personal law permits adoption,
(vii)	mother,	including adoptive parents in the case of individuals whose personal law permits adoption,
(viii)	brothers below the age of eighteen years including stepbrothers,
(ix)	unmarried sisters and widowed sisters including stepsisters,
(x)	married daughters, and
(xi)	children of a pre-deceased son.

10.       A Government servant shall, on his initial confirmation in a service or post, make a nomination in common nomination form, conferring on one or more persons the right to receive the retirement gratuity/death gratuity payable under these rules :

    Provided that if at the time of making the nomination –

(i)                the Government servant has a family, the nomination shall not be in favour of any person or persons other than the members of his family ; or

(ii)             the Government servant has no family, the nomination may be made in favour of a person or persons, or a body of individuals, whether incorporated or not.

11.       The nomination made by a Government servant who has no family at the time of making it,  shall become invalid in the event of the Government servant subsequently acquiring a family.

12.    A Government servant may, at any time, cancel a nomination by sending a notice in writing to the Head of Office. He shall, along with such notice, also send a fresh nomination.

13.       The gratuity shall be paid to the person or persons on whom the right to receive the gratuity is conferred by means of a nomination.

14.    If there is no such nomination or if the nomination made does not subsist, the gratuity shall be paid to the family members in the manner indicated  in Rule 51 (b) of these rules in equal shares.

15.       Where a government servant dies while in service or after retirement without receiving the amount of gratuity and leaves behind no family and has made no nomination or the nomination made by him does not subsists amount of death gratuity / retirement gratuity shall be payable to the person in whose favour a succession certificate in respect of the gratuity in question has been granted by a court of law.

16.       There is a provision under Rule 68 of CCS(Pension) Rules for payment of interest on delayed payment of gratuity in all cases  where the payment of gratuity has been authorised later than the date when its payment becomes due, including the cases of retirement otherwise than on superannuation, and it is clearly established that the delay in payment was attributable to administrative reasons or lapses,

17.       Every case of delayed payment of gratuity shall be considered by the Secretary of the Administrative Ministry or the Department in respect of its employees and the employees of its attached and subordinate offices and where the Secretary of the Ministry or the Department is satisfied that the delay in the payment of gratuity was caused on account of administrative reasons or lapse, the Secretary of the Ministry or the Department shall sanction payment of interest.

18.       Interest shall be paid at the rate applicable to General Provident Fund amount in accordance with the instructions issued from time to time:

19.       Interest shall be paid  where payment of retirement gratuity has been delayed beyond three months from the date of retirement.

 20.  In the cases where the payment of gratuity is delayed beyond six months from the date of retirement other than superannuation, interest should be paid for the period of delay beyond six months from the date of retirement.

21. where the payment of death gratuity is delayed beyond six months from the date of death, interest should be paid for the period of delay beyond six months from the date of death. If in 22            any case the payment of death gratuity is held up on account of more than one claimant staking his/her claim to the same, such cases will not automatically qualify for payment of interest in terms of these orders. These will be examined separately in consultation with this Department on the merits of each.

23        if the payment on account of arrears of gratuity is delayed beyond a period of three months from the date of issue of the orders revising the emoluments or liberalisation in the rules, interest may be allowed for the delay beyond the period of three months from the date of issue of the said orders.

24        As per rule 9 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, the President reserves to himself the right of withholding a pension or gratuity, or both, either in full or in part, or withdrawing a pension in full or in part, whether permanently or for a specified period, and of ordering recovery from a pension or gratuity of the whole or part of any pecuniary loss caused to the Government, if, in any departmental or judicial proceedings, the pensioner is found guilty of grave misconduct or negligence during the period of service, including service rendered upon re-employment after retirement.

25.       As per rule 69 of CCS (Pension) Rules, no gratuity shall be paid to the Government servant until the conclusion of the departmental or judicial proceedings and issue of final orders thereon :

    Provided that where departmental proceedings have been instituted under Rule 16 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965, for imposing any of the penalties specified in Clauses (i), (ii) and (iv) of Rule 11 of the said rules, the payment of gratuity shall be authorized to be paid to the Government servant.

26.       Interest on delayed payment of retirement gratuity would be paid in case of Government servants against whom disciplinary/judicial proceedings are pending on the date of retirement and in which gratuity is withheld till the conclusion of the proceedings,  as under :-

(a) In such cases, if the Government servant is exonerated of all charges and where the gratuity is paid on the conclusion of such proceedings, the payment of gratuity will be deemed to have fallen due on the date following the date of retirement.  If the payment of gratuity has been authorized after three months from the date of his retirement interest may be allowed beyond the period of three months from the date of retirement.

(b)  In cases where the disciplinary/judicial proceedings are dropped on account of the death of the Government servant during the pendency of disciplinary/judicial proceedings, the payment of gratuity will be deemed to have fallen due on the date following the date of death and if the payment of gratuity has been delayed, interest may be allowed for the period of delay beyond three months from the date of death.

(c)   In cases where the Government servant is not fully exonerated on the conclusion of disciplinary/judicial proceedings and where the competent authority decides to allow payment of gratuity, in such cases, the payment of gratuity will be deemed to have fallen due on the date of issue of orders by the competent authority for payment of gratuity, if the  payment of gratuity is delayed in such cases interest will be payable for the period of delay beyond three months from the date of issue of the above-mentioned orders by the competent authority.

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Can dependent mother can get share in deceased son's gratuity even if Son's  widow is alive

Class 1 Heirs

The Hindu Succession Act groups the heirs of a male Hindu into four categories and lays down that his/her inheritable property devolves firstly upon the heirs specified in Class I which are as under:

SonsDaughtersWidowMotherSon of a pre-deceased sonDaughter of a pre-deceased sonSon of a pre-deceased daughterDaughter of a pre-deceased daughterWidow of a pre-deceased sonSon of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased sonDaughter of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased sonWidow of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased sonSon of a predeceased daughter of a predeceased daughterDaughter of a deceased daughter of a predeceased daughterDaughter of a predeceased son of a predeceased daughterDaughter of a predeceased daughter of predeceased son

All these heirs inherit simultaneously and to the exclusion of other heirs. In the absence of any of the heirs in this category, the property devolves upon the enumerated heirs specified in class II.

Class 2 Heirs

The devolution in Class II heirs is made in the absence of any heir in Class I and in such a manner that heirs specified in a particular entry share equally. For this purpose if more than one heir is specified in a single entry, they share the property simultaneously and equally to the exclusion of those specified in subsequent entries. Class 2 heirs include:

FatherSons daughter’s sonSons daughter’s daughterBrotherSisterDaughters son’s sonDaughters son’s daughterDaughters daughter’s sonDaughters Daughter’s daughterBrothers sonSisters sonBrothers daughterSisters daughterFathers fatherFathers motherFathers widowBrothers widowFathers brotherFathers sisterMothers fatherMothers motherMothers brotherMothers sister

Agnates

In case a hindu male passes away intestate and leaves no class 1 or class 2 heirs, then the property would devolve on agnates. A person is said to be an agnate of another if the two are related by blood or adoption wholly through males. Agnate relationship does not extend to relationship by marriage and is restricted to relationship by blood. Also, agnate does not include widows of lineal descendants of the intestate.

Cognates

If a Hindu male passes away without a Will and has no class 1 or class 2 heirs or agnates, then the succession would be through cognates. Cognates are ones who are related to the intestate by blood or adoption but not wholly, through males. Thus mother’s brother’s son and brother’s daughters son are cognates, eligible for heirship.

Source: https://www.indiafilings.com/learn/distribution-property-death-hindu-male/

Gratituty payment is to be done as per nomination.Nomination can be made in favour of family members first .

In  case of nomination is in favour of mother ,she will get the payment even if widow is there . In case no nomination or nomination does not exists,the gratuity shall be paid to the family members in the manner indicated  in Rule 51 (b) . In such case mother will not get a share of gratuity as it will be divided among spouse and children first.