Charge back filed against the nominee of the pensioner when the EPF continued after the death of the pensioner Darjeeling 17th June: The treasury department of Darjeeling has filed a charge against the nominee of a pensioner to refund the cash ‘overdrawn’ in case of enhance family pension’ (EFP) that continued even after the death of a retiree. As per the law of West Bengal government, its employees after their retirement shall receive ‘fifty percent’ of the basic salary with the benefits for seven years known as enhance family pension (EFP). Thereafter, the normal family pension (NFP) which is of thirty percent continues lifelong along with the increment in the benefits with their age accordingly. But after the retiree’s death before or after seven years, the nominees (spouse, daughter if unmarried - widowed - divorced –handicapped and a son handicapped or below 25 years) is entitled to receive ‘thirty percent’ NFP except the medical allowance. In this case the administration was not informed about the death of a retiree but the EFP was continued. “A nominee of the retiree is now liable to refund the added twenty percent overdrawn from the very date of retiree’s death. However without imposing any penalties or added interests the amount shall be deducted from the NFP per month as per the convenience of the nominee. But it has to be cleared within the upcoming financial year 2014-2015,” said the additional treasury officer of Darjeeling Sadar Mr Sonam Wangdi Bhutia "The chargeback varies according to the basic salary of the pensioner they received as per their post. The maximum is approximately one lac and the minimum is of one month," the official added. “The government has no provision to track the cases of overdrawn,” said Mr Wangdi adding that it is a duty of the nominee to inform the treasury office about the death of the pensioner. However such cases of overdrawn seizes the attention of the administration when the audits of the pensioners are prepared once in every financial year. “We come to know about the cases of overdrawn when the audit is prepared by the government, also we conduct an internal audit, every financial year. On the other hand the pensioner has to attend the treasury office every year, when they fail to appear we conduct a police enquiry to know whether the pensioner is alive, but no law stops their pension.” Also it has been learnt that about ten cases of overdrawn has been registered due to some error while uploading data of the pensioner. No matter, the sum has to be refunded. “Only after 2004-2006, the system here has been computerized where the details of the pensioners and the new pensioners are encrypted in a data. Before, it was manual. However some cases do arrive due to some error in uploading the data,” said Mr Wangdi. The treasury department here is located at the Darjeeling District Magistrate office that presently handles 8000-9000 pensions of the pensioners of Darjeeling Dadar. Recently, in a bid to tap such cases of overdrawn the treasury department here started a drive by sending a notice to the concerned banks of the account holder (retiree). “If we find that the cash has not been drawn for at least six months we opt for a police enquiry. According to the report submitted by the police officials we come to know if any retiree died and accordingly we file charge backs,” added Mr Wangdi. “This is not a new hill case scenario,” says an observer. “It is a facade of the government system established since many years, failing to create authenticity to track such cases that creates worry for many beneficiaries on the question to payback,” he added. Mr Wangdi maintained, “Such problem arises when we do not read the documents. When the state government prepares the pension Patta or the Pension Payment Order (PPO), one copy of the PPO is sent to the pensioner and another stays in the treasury department of Darjeeling Sadar. It is clearly written in the PPO that after the death of a pensioner the nominee will receive thirty percent of the basic salary. When they fail to comply with the law and hereby not informing the treasury department about the death of the concerned pensioner, the charge back has been filed.” (Dipen Pradhan, statesman news service)
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:53:21 +0000
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