Single Window System for reimbursement of Railway Pensions w.e.f. 01-07-2015

No. 2013/AC-II/21/8

General Managers/FA&CAOs and CPOs,
All Indian Railways/PUS

Sub: Introduction of Single Window System (SWS) for reimbursement of Railway Pensions.

Advantages to the Zonal Railway:-

• The designated Railways need to interact only with the nominated Nodal Branch for both submission of PPOs and receipt of pension scrolls.
• PPOs to be sent directly to the nominated Nodal Branch instead of the various Link branches, which shall ensure timely dispatch thereof to their Central Pension Processing Cell (CPPC) to ensure commencement of pension payment from the month following which the pensioner retires.
• Due to quick submission of monthly pension scroll in both physical form and electronic form, better monitoring and reconciliation process of the pension debits resulting in more accuracy in the projection of pension budget.
• Better monitoring of grievances and redressal thereof.

Adyantages to the Pensioner:

• The pension commences from the following month in which the pensioner retires
• The pension is credited to the pensioner’s account every month on time.
• Minimize errors in amount of pension, arrears is calculated and paid.
• The grievances redressal system would become more effective.

Present System:

• FA&CAOs of all zonal railways and production units are authorized to issue PPOs (Annexure 1). FA&CAOs draw the PPOs against the bank opted by the pensioners and send the same to the nominated Link branch of that bank directly which further forwards the same to the Paying Branch concerned.
• The paying Branch takes the PPO on their record and thereafter credits the pension amount monthly in the pensioner’s account and sends scroll to the Link Branch.
• The Bank’s Link Branches compile the scrolls of all paying branches under them and sends the same to the designated FA&CAOs (Annexure 2)
• Simultaneously, Link branch also submits the claim for the reimbursement of pension payment to the designated nominated reimbursing agency i.e. nominated RBI /SBI Branch.
• The Reimbursing Branch claims the reimbursement from RBI, CAS.
• RBI/ CAS/ Nagpur credits the account of the reimbursing bank and debits the account of respective designated Railway.

Single Window System:-

• FA&CAO of all Zonal Railways / Production Units shall continue to be authorized for issue of PPOs (Annexure 1).
• State Bank of Travancore has nominated their nodal branches for 16 designated FA&CAOs both for receiving of the PPOs and submission of pension debit scrolls to the FA&CAOs. Copies of the special seal together with specimen signatures of the authorized signatories should be sent to the Nodal Branches for onward transmission to CPPC, to facilitate verification thereof by Bank.
• In case of new pension, both halves of PPOs (i.e. disburser’s and pensioner’s) sent by PPAs (Pension Paying Authority) will be received at the Nodal branches nominated by the Bank (Annexure 3) and subsequently they will send the pensioners‘ half to the respective Pension Paying Branch for onward delivery to the pensioners after due identification etc. and the Bank’s half to the CPPC of the Bank.
• The images of the Pension Payment Order (PPOs) will be scanned and stored in the master database by CPPC, which will be visible to the Pension Paying branch also.
• CPPC would build up a master database (including scanned images of PPOs) for the existing valid Railway Pensioners of all the branches of Bank.
• The PPOs issued in a month by the Railways / PUs has to reach the nominated Nodal Branch of the Bank by 5m of the ensuing month. The Nodal Branch will thereafter forward the disburser’s copy to the CPPC of the Bank and the pensioner’s copy to the Paying Branch by tom of the month. Thereafter, the CPPC will carry on the necessary scanning and other procedures so that payment of pension is ready to commence from the following month in which the pensioner retires The paying branch will intimate the pensioner, immediately, on the receipt of pensioner’s half so that pensioner fulfils the necessary formalities with them and then advise CPPC in this regard so that pension is credited in the pension account invariably by the end of the month.
• Changes / modifications in the Pensioner’s Data/ Pension Scroll will take place at CPPC of the Bank. Pension will be processed at CPPC and scrolls will be generated.
• Based on the generated Scroll, CPPC will credit the pension to the pensioners’ accounts of all the CBS branches. For non CBS branches, CPPC will send the Pension Scroll to Pension Paying Branches for doing the necdful at their end.
• CPPC will send the designated FA&CAO wise scroll and claim alongwith the summary sheet under Single Window System (SWS) through Link Cell Nagpur, to RBI CAS Nagpur for reimbursement at Single Point.
• The nominated Nodal Branches for 16 designated FA&CAOs will be the point of local liaison and submission of Pension Scroll. The designated FA&CAO wise electronic Scroll will be sent to respective Nodal Branches by CPPC. The Nodal Branches will submit the pension debit scrolls in both physical form and electronic form to their respective FA&CAO of Railway for reconciliation and record (Annexure 4).
• The CP PC will also create a dashboard that can be viewed by the all the PPO issuing FA&CAOS and the Railway Board indicating the details of PPOs received in a month by their bank and the month of commencement of the pension of the pensioners along with the remarks for non-commencement of pension.
• The details of the pension payment viz Basic Pension, DA, Net Amount etc should be accessible/ viewable by the pensioner online
• CPPC will calculate pension and arrears, if any, as per the guidelines of Pension Paying Authority. The details of pension calculation will be available on the Bank’s network and the Pension Paying Branches will hand over a copy of the printout to the pensioner. This information should also be available online to the pensioners 
• The Bank shall provide an online pension helpline’wherein the pensioners can view their pension details, lodge complaints related to pension payment and the same will also be viewable. to the FA&CAOs office concerned. The CPPC will have a sound grievance redressal mechanism / monitoring cell to track the pensioner’s grievances lodged in the pension helpline or otherwise forwarded by Pension Paying Branches, Ministry, Authority or by directly by the pensioner.
• The PPOs against other banks would continue to be sent to their existing Link branches till they are covered under SWS.

• There would be a running serial number on the paying branch scroll. It should be ensured that no scroll number is repeated or left out.
• The same check would be done on Nodal Branch Summary Scroll. 
• At the pension accounting authority all amounts booked against duplicate scroll numbers would be checked and the RBI would be asked to put back these amounts to the Government accounts. 
• The entire process from the start of payment of pension to reimbursement at RBI, CAS, Nagpur will be handled by the concerned bank itself.
• The Nodal branches will be responsible for reconciliation with the Railways and for settling discrepancies.
• As a onetime exercise authorized banks will send the nodal branch wise, paying branch directory structure with complete postal address, pin code, BSR code for proper and prompt settlement and reconciliation.

Source: http://scm-bps.blogspot.in/2015/04/introduction-of-single-window-systemsws.html

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