Importance of nominations and their safe custody.

Importance of nominations and their safe custody. - Nominations for death/retirement gratuity and related notices are important documents on the basis of which the claims of the beneficiaries have to be established and settled. Instances of cases have come to notice where nominations made by deceased officers and related papers were not traceable in the official records of the Head of the Office and were treated as lost. This defeats the very purpose underlying nominations and causes inconveniences and delay all round. To obviate the possibility of such losses in future, it has been decided that the nomination papers should, after counter-signature, be kept in a separate confidential file which should be lodged for safe keeping with the Head of Office or other responsible officer nominated by him for this purpose, and a clear note made in the service book of the officer as to what nominations and related notices have been received from him and where they have been lodged for safe custody, so that there should be no difficulty in locating the documents when the occasion for making a reference to them arises. 1/30/2019 CHAPTER http://persmin.nic.in/pension/rules/pencomp7.htm#Amount%20of%20Pension 35/85 [G.I., M.F., O.M. No. F. 21 (4)-E. V/59, dated the 6th April, 1960.] All Government servants should be advised that it would be in the interest of their nominees if they would preserve copies of the nominations made by them and of the related notices and acknowledgements, either in their personal custody or in safe deposit along with their other important personal documents, etc., where they may be expected to come into the possession of the beneficiaries in the event of their death. [G.I., M.F., O.M. No. F. 8 (9)-E. V (1)/60, dated the 13th December, 1960.] The need for observance of the above instructions cannot, perhaps, be overemphasized. The need for nomination arises consequent upon the death of a Government servant while in service or after retirement before receipt of the death/retirement gratuity. In those cases, where valid nominations already exist, the claims of the nominees are likely to be settled expeditiously as provided in sub-rule (1) (a) of Rule 51 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972. But in those cases, where no nominations have been filed or even if filed by the Government servant but lost in office due to lack of proper care, the gratuity is payable to the members of the family in the manner prescribed in sub-rule (1) (b) ibid. A number of cases have also come to notice of Government where Government servants having died without making any valid nominations, the surviving members of their families approach courts for grant of succession certificates in order to entitle them to their share of the gratuity. It may be clarified in this regard that payment of death/retirement gratuity to the members of family of a deceased Government servant is normally to be made according to the relevant service rules. While payment on the basis of a succession certificate would discharge Government's liability, a succession certificate does not necessarily create an obligation on the part of the Government to pay the amount. Such a claim can be resisted if it is otherwise not in order. Therefore, in order to save the families of the Government servants from the expenditure involved on the court fees for obtaining succession certificates and the inevitable delay which this process entails, the Government servants may be advised to file their nominations in the prescribed forms without fail. The Ministries/Departments and offices concerned are also requested to review the service records of all their employees and ensure that nominations have been obtained from all the Government servants, necessary entries made in their service books as laid down in the orders referred to above and the relevant records preserved properly to avoid such situations. [G.I., M.F., O.M. No. 7 (5)-E. V (B)/74, dated the 22nd January, 1975.] Clarification by Ministry of Law The intention in calling upon the claimants to obtain succession certificate is to get a legal document from the competent court so that the claims of the rival parties can be settled once for all. This is a document which will enable the Department to pay the dues, etc., to the rightful claimant. If the Department is not satisfied with the legal right of the claimant, they have got every right to approach the competent court to decide the claims in accordance with the law. In other words, if the Department feels that the succession certificate has not been issued as per law then they have every right to follow up the procedure after reconsidering the nature. However, we have dealt with the aspect in the above para. on the related aspect and Department is supposed to obtain legal opinion as and when a concrete case arises. If necessary, matter may be discussed. [Min. of Law (Dept. of Legal Affairs), U.O. No. 23/26/88-Adv. (B), dated the 2nd August, 1988 and C. & A.G.'s Endst. No. 1513-A/(II)/88, dated the 23rd December, 1988.]