The central government gives big relief to pensioners’. If you are also a former government employee and take pension from the government every month, then this article is for you. Good news for about 65 lakh pensioners in the central government. If there is any problem with the pension after retirement, it will not take long to settle it. Pensioners will not have to visit government offices. The case will be settled in just 21 days. Irrespective of whether the concerned officer has jurisdiction over the pension case or not, that complaint will definitely be heard.
Big news for pensioner’s
The applicant will be provided with an option to appeal against the redressal of his grievance within 30 days of the closure of the complaint. The appeal can be made on the Pensioner Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS). The appeal shall be disposed of by the concerned authority within 30 days of receipt of the appeal.
In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his interaction with Secretaries to the Government of India, had directed to make the pension-related grievance redressal system more sensitive, accessible, and meaningful. In compliance with the same directions, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions, Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare, issued the said Office Memorandum last month.
CPGRAMS portal
Comprehensive guidelines have been issued on the CPGRAMS portal for sensitive, accessible, and meaningful redressal of grievances of Central Government pensioners. The objective is to strengthen the pensioners’ grievance redressal mechanism. After reviewing the process of the Centralised Pension Grievance Redress and Monitoring System, various guidelines have been issued. The role and responsibilities of Pension Grievance Redressal Officers (GROs) have been laid down in an effective manner. The grievance will be redressed in the entire government approach.
If the complaint does not pertain to the GRO to whom it has been sent, he shall forward it immediately to the concerned GRO if he has the correct mapping know-how. Otherwise, he/she shall return it to the Nodal Public Grievance Officer of his Ministry/Department. The Nodal Officer shall forward the complaint to the concerned GRO or DoPPW (if the complaint does not pertain to that Ministry/Department).
New Guidelines
The new guidelines emphasize that, in no case, a complaint shall be summarily closed on the ground that it does not pertain to this office. No complaint is to be closed until the applicant receives the final result. Since most pension-related grievances are monetary in nature, the Unique Transaction Number (UTR) or Reference Number should be filled on the portal in the Follow-up Action Report (ATR) filed while closing the complaint. For complaints that are not of an economic nature, relevant orders or documents, including PPOs, letters, or e-mails, may be uploaded.
The role and responsibilities of Nodal Public Grievance Officers have also been fixed. Each nodal PG officer will review the pending pension-related complaints on the portal monthly. This has been done so as to ensure that pensionary grievances are redressed in quality within the prescribed time frame.
The Nodal PG Officer (https://pgportal.gov.in/ccfeedback/) can visit the portal and see the poor/average response given by the applicants. He can then take the required corrective measures. The Nodal PG Officer will analyze the trend of complaints. Will investigate the root causes. Accordingly, remedial measures relating to people, policies, and procedures may be taken to reduce complaints. Over a period of time, the average time for redressal of pension-related grievances has come down considerably due to improvements made in the grievance redressal process, such as continuous monitoring by DoPPW, online transmission of grievances to the concerned GROs, capacity building of manpower deployed in the pension grievance redressal process, etc.
