As per a notification from the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), pension rules have been eased out. Following relaxation of certain rules by the Government, families of missing Central government employees can now receive pension immediately after they go missing.
Earlier, if a Central government employee went missing, his/ her family members would have had to wait for at least seven years for him/her to be declared untraceable, or wait for the government records to officially / legally declare the employee dead before they could start receiving pension.
Now, post revision of the rules, the pension will be paid to the next of kin of the missing employees immediately, regardless of whether they are covered by the Central Civil Services (CCS) Pension Rules, CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules or the National Pension System (NPS).
If the missing employee is found or traced and rejoins work, the pension amount that was paid to his / her next of kin for the period that he/ she was missing will be deducted from the salary.
It has been observed that many officials are hesitant to serve in difficult areas. This revision in family pension rules will bring relief to such government employees who are posted in delicate or difficult regions, such as Jammu & Kashmir or the Northeastern states or areas prone to unrest, violence or militancy.
