Mandatorily process all pension cases online: Govt to depts

New Delhi: In order to check delay and bring in more transparency, the Centre has asked all its departments to mandatorily process all pension-related cases through an online system.

The move will result in timely sanction and grant of post-retirement benefits to employees.

The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has issued instructions to secretaries of all central government departments asking them to ensure that pension cases are processed electronically.

It has been seen that despite detailed guidelines and instructions, a large proportion of retiring employees do not get their retirement benefits and pension payment order (PPO) in time, the Ministry said in an order.

It said an online pension sanction and payment tracking system called 'Bhavishya' has been launched to check delay in providing retirement benefits to employees.

Both the retiring employees as well as administrative authorities can monitor progress of pension cases at each stage online.

"It has now been decided that all Heads of Offices will henceforth mandatorily process all pension cases only through Bhavishya. In this, where necessary, they will assist the retiring employee to submit the online application form," the Personnel Ministry said, seeking strict compliance of its directive.

All pension related cases of retiring employees have to be filed electronically from January 1, 2017 and "in no case will the pension case be delayed on account of electronic processing through Bhavishya", it said.