Defence pensions

From Indiapensions

cozeldomc The defence services employ one of the largest number of people in the Central Government and simultaneously have the largest number of pensioners. There were 21 lakh pensioners as of March 2004. The pension scheme for defence employees is a defined benefit scheme that pays a pension as per a particular formula. The pensions are paid out of the Consolidated Fund of India. The defence services have one of the highest expenditure on pensions among the various departments in the Central Government. They have been kept out of the purview of the new pension scheme for the time being. However civil employees within the defence services will be a part of the NPS as the civilian employees were paid pensions under the Central Civil Service Rules, 1972.

Table of contents

1 Legislation 2 Applicability 3 Operational framework 3.1 Pensionary Benefits 3.1.1 Normal retirement pension 3.1.2 Disability benefits 3.1.3 Pensionary benefits on account of death

Legislation

The pension benefits in defence are determined as per the provisions of the following rules

1. Pension Regulations for the Army, 1961 (Parts I and II);
2. Pension Regulations for the Air Force, 1961 (Parts I and II);
3. Navy (Pension) Regulations, 1964; and
4. Entitlement Rules for Casualty Pension Awards to the Armed Forces Personnel, 1982.

Applicability

There are two categories of employees within the armed forces- commissioned officers and persons below officer rank (PBOR). The pension eligibility rules differ for both these categories. Typically, the criteria in determining the eligibility and quantum of pensions is the number of years in service. In the case of armed forces an adjustment is done to the number of years in service, due to the fact that personnel in the defense services are subject to early retirement. This concept is called weightage. In the case of commissioned officers of the army, navy and air force, the minimum period of qualifying service (without weightage) required for earning retiring pension is 20 years (15 years in the case of late entrants). In the case of PBOR it is 15 years (20 years in the case of Non-Combatants Enrolled (NCsE)).

Operational framework

Pensionary Benefits

The pensionary benefits are a function of the mode of termination of service. This can happen in four ways

1. Normal retirement. This is retiring out of the service at the retirement age.
2. Retirement on account of a disability that causes invalidation. The benefit here depends on whether the person is retained in service after the disability or not. There are three cases of disability
   1. Disability on account of service conditions.
   2. Disability outside the purview of service conditions
   3. Disability due to war or warlike situations
3. Death in service. There are three cases here
   1. Death on account of service conditions
   2. Death outside the purview of service conditions
   3. Death due to war or warlike situations

Normal retirement pension

This is calculated at 50% of the average emoluments drawn during the last ten months. In the case of Personnel Below Officers Rank (PBOR), it is calculated at 50% of the maximum pay scale of the pay for the rank and group, held for 10 months preceding retirement. Retiring pension cannot be less than Rs.1275/- per month or more than 50% of the highest pay. In the case of past pensioners, with effect from January 1, 1996, pension should not be less than 50% of the minimum pay in the revised scale of the pay introduced w.e.f. January 1, 1996 for the rank, rank and group (in the case of PBOR) held by the pensioner.

Disability benefits

Disability related to service A person, who is released/retired from service, on account of a disease/injury/wound attributable to or aggravated by military service gets disability pension which consists of service element (retiring pension on the basis of period of his service) and disability element (compensation for disablement depending upon the magnitude of disability). The retiring pension in this case is applicable even if the service period is less than the minimum service required for retiring pension.

Disability not related to service In this case invalid pension is granted if the service actually rendered is 10 years or more. If the service is less than 10 years, such service personnel are paid Invalid Gratuity depending upon the length of service.

War injury pension War Injury Pension is sanctioned to an individual, who sustains injury/disability in war or war like operations such as terrorist attacks and are invalided out of service. War Injury Pension consists of service element and war injury element. Service element is calculated equal to retiring/service pension to which he/she would have been entitled on the basis of his/her pay on the date of becoming invalid but counting service upto the date on which he/she would have retired in that rank in normal course including weightage as admissible. War Injury Element is payable equal to reckonable emoluments last drawn for 100% disablement. However, in no case, the aggregate of service element and war injury element will exceed last pay drawn.

Benefits if the person is retained despite disability If an individual is found to have a disability which is assessed at 20% or more for life but is retained in service despite such disability, he/she is paid a compensation in lump sum (in lieu of disability element) equal to the capitalised value of disability element on the basis of disability actually assessed. Once a compensation has been paid in lieu of the disability element, there is no further entitlement to the disability element for the same disability.

Pensionary benefits on account of death

Death outside the purview of service conditions Families of Armed Forces Personnel who die during service or after retirement with pension, are granted family pension at a uniform rate of 30% of the relevant value of the emoluments. The amount of minimum family pension is Rs.1275, If the deceased personnel had rendered 7 years or more service, the family is given family pension at enhanced rate (50%) for the first 7 years or upto the time the deceased would have reached the age of 67 years, whichever is earlier.

Death on account of service conditions If the death of a service personnel has occurred on account of causes attributable to or aggravated by Service the family is paid “Special Family Pension”. There is no condition of minimum service on the date of death for grant of Special Family Pension. With effect from January 1, 1996, Special Family Pension is calculated at the uniform rate of 60% of reckonable emoluments drawn by the deceased, subject to a minimum of Rs.2,550/-p.m. There is no maximum ceiling on Special Family Pension.

Death due to war or war-like situation In the event of death of Armed Forces Personnel in war or war like operations, counter insurgency operations or in an encounter with or in an incident involving armed hostilities, terrorists/extremists, anti-social elements etc. , their families are granted liberalised family pension equal to the reckonable emoluments last drawn by the deceased personnel at the time of their death.