New Delhi, Sept 06: The central government has amended rules relating to retirement benefits of IAS, IPS and IFoS pensioners empowering itself to act against them and withhold or withdraw their pension even without a reference from the state government if they are found guilty of grave misconduct or are convicted of a serious crime.
In a notification on the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Amendment Rules, 2023, the Department of Personnel and Training said a ‘grave misconduct’ includes communication or disclosure of any document or information mentioned in the Official Secrets Act and a ‘serious crime’ includes any crime involving an offence under the Official Secrets Act.
Rule 3(3) in the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958, which stated that the Central government may withhold or withdraw pension or any part of it “on a reference from the State Government concerned, if after retirement a pensioner is convicted”. The amended rules have added “or otherwise” after “…the State Government concerned”.
This means that the Centre may not have to wait for a reference from the state government to act against a pensioner found guilty of grave misconduct or convicted of a serious crime by a Court & if the state government concerned does not send such references in such cases, the central government may initiate a process of action.
The rationale behind this amendment was that sometimes state governments concerned do not send a reference for action against retired officials even after conviction by courts of law.
The amended rules reiterate that the decision of the Central Government on withholding or withdrawing the pension “shall be final”.
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