Central Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023- CCS(EOP) Rules, 2023

Central Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023 – CCS(EOP) Rules, 2023

MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
(Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare)
NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 30th January, 2023

G.S.R. 63(E).—In exercise of the powers conferred by 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:-

1. Short title and commencement. – (1) These rules may be called the Central Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. Application. – (1) These rules shall apply to the Government servants to whom the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021 apply:

Provided that in the event of death or discharge from the service on the ground of disability of a Government servant, who is covered by the Central Civil Services (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021, the benefits of family pension, disability pension and constant attendant allowance under these rules shall be payable to the Government servant or his family, as the case may be, if the Government servant had exercised an option to this effect under rule 10 of the Central Civil Services (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021:

Provided further that no benefits shall be paid under these rules in respect of a Government servant who dies or gets disabled while on foreign service under a United Nations’ body if he had opted not to pay the pension contributions during the period of such deputation and not to get the service rendered in the United Nations’ body counted as qualifying service in accordance with rule 29 of the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021 .

(2)(a) Where the provisions of section 20 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (49 of 2016) are applicable in case of a Government servant acquiring a disability, such case shall be governed by the provisions of the said section.

(b) Where a Government servant referred to in clause (a) intends to retire and avail benefits under these rules, the Government servant shall be advised that he has the option, in terms of section 20 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (49 of 2016) to continue in service with the same pay scale and service benefits which he is otherwise entitled to and in case the Government servant does not withdraw his request for retirement, he may be allowed to retire and his case for grant of disability pension may be processed in accordance with the provisions of these rules.

(c) A Government servant, who belongs to an establishment which has been exempted from the provisions of section 20 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (49 of 2016), by a notification issued under the proviso to subsection (1) of section 20 of the said Act and who is boarded out of Government service on account of disablement, shall be eligible for disability pension in accordance with the provisions of these rules:

Provided that where the medical board has found a Government servant fit for further service of less laborious character than that which he had been doing, he shall, subject to his willingness to be so employed, be employed on a lower post and if the Government servant is not willing to be employed on a lower post or if there is no means of employing him even on a lower post, he may be granted disability pension under these rules.

(d) If a Government servant referred to in clause (a) or clause (c) is retained in service in spite of disablement, he shall be paid compensation in lump-sum in lieu of the disability pension in accordance with sub-rule (5) of rule 10 of these rules.

3. Definitions.- (1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) “accident” means—

(i) a sudden and unavoidable mishap; or

(ii) a mishap due to an act of devotion to duty performed in an emergent situation arising in the course of service or otherwise, but does not include an incident of violence;

(b) “Accounts Officer” means an officer, irrespective of his official designation, who maintains the accounts of a Ministry, Department or Office of the Central Government or Union territory and includes an Accountant-General, who is entrusted with the functions of maintaining the accounts or part of accounts of the Central Government or Union territory;

(c) “disability” means a condition of a person resulting in long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment which, in interaction with barriers, hinders his full and effective participation in society equally with others;

(d) “disease” includes a disease as mentioned in Schedule- I;

(e) “Form” means a form appended to these rules;

(f) Fundamental Rules means the Fundamental Rules, which came into force with effect from the 1st January, 1922,

(g) “injury” includes an injury as mentioned in Schedule-II;

(h) “pay” means the basic pay as defined in sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of sub-rule (21) of rule 9 of the Fundamental Rules, which a Government servant was receiving,-

(i) in case of retirement or death, immediately before his retirement or on the date of his death; and
(ii) in case of retention in service in spite of disablement, on the date of injury or date of disease, as the case may be,

and shall also include stagnation increment and non-practising allowance granted to a medical officer in lieu of private practice.

(i) “Schedule” means a Schedule appended to these rules;

(j) “violence” means an act of a person or persons to inflict an injury on a Government servant by assaulting or obstructing or deterring or preventing him in the discharge of his duties,-

(i) by virtue of anything done or attempted to be done by such Government servant or by any other public servant in the lawful discharge of his duty as such; or

(ii) by virtue of his official position, and shall also include such acts which cause injury to the Government servant as a collateral victim due to his presence at the place of incident in connection with discharge of his official duty.

(2) Words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Fundamental Rules or in the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021 shall have the same meanings as respectively assigned to them in those rules.

4. Conditions for grant of disability pension or family pension.-(1)A disability pension or family pension shall be granted under these rules, if there is a causal connection between,-

(a) disablement of a Government servant and Government service; or

(b) death of a Government servant and Government service.

(2) The disablement shall be reckoned as due to the Government service, if it is certified that the same is due to wound, injury or disease, which,-

(a) is attributable to Government service; or
(b) existed before or arose during the Government service and has aggravated thereby.

(3) The death shall be reckoned as due to Government service if it is certified that the same was caused due to or hastened by, –

(a) a wound, injury or disease which was attributable to the Government service; or

(b) the aggravation of a wound, injury or disease, which existed before or arose during the Government service and such aggravation is attributable to the Government service.

(4) It shall not be necessary for the Government servant or the family to submit any application for grant of disability pension or family pension under these rules.

(5) It shall be the responsibility of the Head of Office to consider each case of death or disability due to injury or disease caused to a Government servant based on the findings of the Medical Board and to take necessary action to submit the case to the competent authority, within three months of the date of receipt of the report of the Medical Board, for a decision in regard to grant of disability pension or family pension under these rules:

Provided that the claim for disability pension or family pension under these rules shall not be rejected on account of any delay on the part of the Head of Office in submission of the case to the competent authority for a decision in regard to grant of disability pension or family pension under these rules.

(6) The disability pension shall consist of a service element and a disability element, which shall be determined in accordance with rule 10 of these rules.

(7) On death of a pensioner, who was in receipt of a disability pension, family pension shall be payable in accordance with sub-rule (2) of rule 11 of these rules.

5. Authority for grant of disability pension or family pension.-(1) The power to grant disability pension or family pension under these rules, in respect of a Government servant working in a Ministry or Department and the organisations or offices under it, shall be exercised by the Secretary of that Ministry or Department or by such other officer not below the rank of the Joint Secretary to the Government of India, to whom this power is delegated by the Secretary, in consultation with the Financial Adviser:

Provided that in respect of the Government servants working in an organisation or office under a Ministry or Department, the Secretary of the Ministry or Department, in consultation with the Financial Adviser, may delegate the power to grant disability pension or family pension under these rules to an officer not below the rank of the Joint Secretary to the Government of India of the said organisation or office.

(2) The officer to whom the power to grant disability pension or family pension is delegated under sub-rule (1) shall exercise the power subject to conditions, if any, as may be laid down by the Secretary of the Administrative Ministry or Department in consultation with the Financial Adviser.

(3) Each case for grant of family pension or disability pension under these rules shall be examined in accordance with the guidelines specified in Schedule – IV.

(4) The authority referred to in sub-rule (1), before allowing family pension or disability pension under these rules shall satisfy itself that the conditions specified in rule 4 for grant of family pension or disability pension are fulfilled and based on the medical report, the guidelines specified in Schedule –IV and the other relevant documents, the said authority shall certify that there exists a causal connection between disablement or death of the Government servant and the Government service and that the death or disability is attributable to or aggravated by the Government service.

Note 1: The guidelines specified in Schedule- IV are aimed to determine attributability of disablement or death to Government service:

Provided that, if based on the facts of a particular case, the authority is of the opinion that the disablement or death, though not strictly covered by the guidelines specified in Schedule–IV, is otherwise attributable to Government service, it may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, grant disability pension or family pension, as the case may be, in accordance with these rules.

Note 2: In the case of a Government servant who died in such circumstances that a medical report could not be secured, the competent authority may award a family pension under these rules, if it is otherwise satisfied that there exists a causal connection between death of the Government servant and Government service.

6. Other conditions.-(1) Where grant of family pension or disability pension or gratuity under these rules is made in respect of a period of service under the Government, no pension or family pension or gratuity under any other rules shall be payable for the said period of service, during the currency of the grant.

(2) The disability element of disability pension granted under these rules shall not be taken into account in fixing the pay of a pensioner on his re-employment in the Government service.

7. Determination of percentage of disability.-(1) The percentage of disability due to any disease or diseases specified in Schedule – I shall be as certified by the Medical Board.

(2) The percentage of disability due to any injury or injuries shall be as specified in Schedule – II, or failing that as certified by the Medical Board.

(3) The extent of disability or functional incapacity shall be determined in the manner as per the following Table for purposes of computing the disability element forming part of benefits, namely,-

Table

Provided that the above broad-banding shall not be applicable to Government servants who are retained in service.

8. Findings of the Medical Board and Appeal.-(1) The findings of the Medical Board on the extent of disability may be treated as final and binding unless the Government servant or his family seeks a review by preferring an appeal to an authority immediately superior to the one who had constituted the Board.

(2) An appeal against the decision of the Medical Board shall be preferred and considered in the following manner, namely:-

(i) the findings of the examining Medical Board shall be made known to the Government servant concerned or his family within one month after the receipt of the medical report by the Head of the Office or Department and the Government servant concerned shall, if he desires to appeal against such decision, can do so together with the requisite evidence in support of his case within one month from the date on which the findings of the Medical Board were made known to him;

(ii) where the Head of Office is satisfied that the Government servant himself is not in a position to submit the appeal under this clause on account of any bodily or mental infirmity or disablement, the Head of Office may allow the spouse of the Government servant or, in the absence of the spouse, the member of the family eligible to receive family pension on death of Government servant, to submit the said appeal and if there is no member of the family eligible to receive family pension on death of Government servant, a member of the family in whose favour a nomination was made by the Government servant for payment of gratuity, may be allowed to submit the said appeal;

(iii) if any medical certificate is produced by the Government servant or his family as a piece of evidence about the possibility of an error of judgment in the decision of an examining Medical Board which had examined him in the first instance, the certificate shall not be taken into consideration unless it contains a note by the medical practitioner who gave the certificate to the effect that it has been given in full knowledge of the fact that the person concerned had already been examined by a medical Board who have given their opinion as to the injury or disease, in respect of which the Government servant claims to be eligible for benefits under extraordinary circumstances;

(iv) where an appeal under clause (i) or clause (ii) is supported by a medical certificate referred to in clause (iii), a Review Medical Board shall be constituted by the concerned authority referred in rule 5 of these rules.

(v) in cases other than those referred to in clause (iv), the appeal shall, at first, be referred to the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with the comments of the Medical Board, which had examined him in the first instance and the Directorate General of Health Services shall advise on the evidence produced as to whether there is an error of judgment on the part of the examining Medical Board which had first conducted the Medical examination and whether the appeal shall be accepted or not and if accepted, by whom such re-examination shall be conducted;

(vi) a Review Medical Board constituted under clause (iv) or clause (v) shall not include any member who was part of the Medical Board which had initially examined the Government servant and whose findings have been appealed against by the Government servant or his family;

(vii) where a Review Medical Board is constituted under clause (iv) or clause (v), the findings of the Review Medical Board shall be binding on all parties;

(viii) the extent of disability as determined by the Medical Board or the Review Medical Board, as the case may be, shall be treated as final and the Government servant shall not be required to appear before Medical Board periodically for the purpose of obtaining a certificate that the disability continues to persist.

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