Pension Grievance Redress System

MASTER CIRCULAR

Master Circular No. 63

Conduct of Pension Adalats on Railways.

The intention of conducting Pension Adalats is to examine the grievances of pensioners so as to redress the same by taking on the spot decisions and to obviate the delays, if any, in the settlement of their dues. Such a step would go a long way in instilling a sense of being cared for and attended to in the minds of pensioners and thus dispel their feeling of neglect and isolation.

2. Detailed guidelines have been circulated to the Railways for holding the Pension Adalats on the lines of similar guidelines formulated by the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare (DOP&PW) who are the nodal Department for looking after the welfare of Central Government Pensioners. The guidelines are given below: —

2.1. The Pension Adalats should be held on Railways/ Production Units on 15th December each year or the first working day after that date in case 15th is a holiday.

2.2 Wide and adequate publicity through print and visual media and other means like posters at prominent places should be given in advance to enable the pensioners to send their cases in time for consideration in such Adalats. This is necessary, as reference to various records is very often essential before a grievance can be redressed. For this purpose, the following time frame should be adopted:

(a) Issue of notice by Railway through print and visual media By first week and other means about holding of Pension Adalats indicating of August date, venue, time of Adalat and the name of Officer to whom every year. the grievances have to be submitted. (b) Last date for submission of grievances by Pensioners, which 31st October should be indicated in the Notification mentioned above. every year.

2.3. The representation of Pensioners may be acknowledged indicating the date, venue and time of Pension Adalat.

2.4. The Pension Adalats should be conducted at the level of very senior Officers i.e. General Manager/Addl. General Managers, Chief Personnel Officers, FA&CAOs and DRMs/ADRMs besides other Officers of Personnel, Accounts and other Departments concerned. The representatives of Bank/other Pension Disbursing Authorities should also be co-opted in the Pension Adalats.

2.5 All Officers dealing with pension viz. Senior Officers of Personnel and Accounts Department and Managers of the pension-disbursing Banks of Zonal or Divisional Headquarters should be present with all the relevant records so that decisions are not postponed for the sake of referring to the records.

2.6. The Officers present in the Pension Adalats should be able to take decisions on the spot to redress the grievances. In this connection it is pertinent to note that such meetings are not to take up policy matters but they should deal with specific grievances of the individual pensioner, when represented by him personally or by a family member of the Pensioner.

2.7 Cases involving purely legal points e.g. succession etc. cannot be taken up in the Adalat.

2.8. The authorised representatives of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) and the recognised Trade Unions may also be invited to attend the Pension Adalats. But, they should not be permitted to present the grievances of the Pensioners.

2.9. However, in the case of illiterate Pensioners, widows, minors etc. it may not be possible for them to effectively prepare and present cases before the Adalat. In such cases, if the pensioner is not able to present his/her case and he/she seeks the assistance of the representatives of the SCOVA attending the Adalat, the SCOVA representatives may be permitted to present the grievances of such pensioners.

2.10. There are only 2 members in the SCOVA representing the Railways. It may happen that the Railway nominees on the SCOVA may not be available when Pension Adalats are held on different dates, at different places of the Zonal Railways. In such cases, representatives of SCOVA, as authorised by the Members of the SCOVA and whose credentials are sent in advance to the Railway Administrations should be allowed to attend the Pension Adalats and to present the cases, if necessary.

2.11. It should be ensured that all the cases which are tenable are settled at the time of Pension Adalat itself, but in cases where it is not possible to settle the same on the spot, it should be settled and finalised within a period of three months from the date of holding the Pension Adalat.

2.12. In those cases of grievances, which are not tenable, the Pensioners may be suitably advised in writing.

2.13. While DRMs may be instructed to hold Pension Adalats on their respective Divisions, once in 3 months or so, the working of this grievance machinery should be monitored at Headquarters level.

2.14. After holding the Pension Adalats, the requisite details in the prescribed proforma as laid down in Board's letter No. E(W)92 PA 1-1/1 dated 17.11.1993 should be furnished to the Railway Board by 31st January every year.

3. It must be mentioned that efforts should always be made to make payment of settlement dues immediately on retirement as per normal practice. No case should be held up for decision in Pension Adalats unless the delay is absolutely inescapable.

4. As the conduct of Pension Adalat is being monitored at the level of the Board and DOP&PW, the guidelines should be followed scrupulously to ensure that the grievances of Pensioners/ Family Pensioners are settled expeditiously without giving any room for complaint whatsoever.

The consolidation has been made from the following circulars:

D. O. 86/ACII/21/29 dated 10.07.1986

86/ACII/21/29 dated 30.08.1988

E(W)92 PA 1-1/1 dated 28.10.1992

E(W)92 PA 1-1/1 dated 17.11.1993

E(W)92 PA 1-1/1 dated 25.04.1994 (RBE 34/1994).

E(W)92 PA 1-1/1 dated 23.11.1994 (RBE 106/1994). Pension Grievance Redress System

Grievance Redress Format

1. If you have any grievance in pension matters you may take it up with your Head of Office, the pension sanctioning authority or the pension disbursing authority, as the case may be. 2. If considered necessary, you may also approach the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare, Lok Nayak Bhawan (3rd Floor), Khan Maket, New Delhi-110003, which is the nodal Department for looking into the grievances and problems of pensioners or Secretary (PG), Directorate of Public Grievances, Cabinet Secretariat, Sardar Patel Bhawan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. 3. For prompt attention, all your correspondence should contain the following essential details, so that past records can be easily linked, a. Name b. Full address c. Office from which retired (name of the office may be indicated in full) d. Post held at the time of retirement (and scale of pay) e. If pension has been sanctioned , quantum may be specified. I. The particulars of Accounts Officer which issued the PPO II. The particulars of Pension Disbursing Authority, and III. PPO number / or a photocopy of the PPO

Make your representation brief and short.

Department of Personnel and Training Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances.

This site is Designed, Developed & Hosted by NIC / NICSI In a vast organisation like LIC, catering to the various needs and aspirations of millions of policyholders, grievances of customers do arise occasionally. In order to redress these grievance LIC has established an elaborate Grievance Rederessal Machinery and the details are as under:

I) Grievance Redressal Officers: Grievance Redressal Officers have been designated at all levels of the Organisation :

At the branch level: The Sr/Branch manager At the divisional level: The Marketing manager At the zonal level: At the Central level:

The Regional Manager (Marketing) in case of ordinary policies. The Regional Manager (Pension and Group Schemes) in case of P&GS.

TheExecutive Director/Chief (Marketing/Customer Relationship Management) in case of Ordinary policies.

Chief (Pension and Group Schemes) in case of P & GS policies. Policyholders can personally contact these designated Officials and seek redressal of their grievances.

The respective Grievance Redressal Officers are available at their Offices for personal interviews with the customers on all Mondays between 2.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., except on holidays without prior appointment.

Customers can meet the Grievance Redressal Officers on other days also with prior appointment.

The names of the Grievance Redressal Officers are displayed in the respective Offices and are periodically published in the local newspapers.

II) Complaint Cell: For those customers who are not in a position to meet the Grievance Redressal Officers in person, a Complaint Cell is functioning at the Central, Zonal and Divisional Offices. They can send their written complaints to these Offices. Such complaints are registered and monitored with the respective servicing units for proper redressal.

III) Claims Review Committee: The Corporation settles a large number of Death Claims every year. Only in case of fraudulent suppression of material information is the liability repudiated. This is to ensure that claims are not paid to fraudulent persons of the cost of honest policyholders. The number of Death Claims repudiated is, however, very small. Even in these cases, an opportunity is given to the claimant to make a representation for consideration by the Review Committees of the Zonal office and the Central Office. As a result of such review, depending on the merits of each case, appropriate decisions are taken. The Claims Review Committees of the Central and Zonal Offices have among their Members, a retired High Court/District Court Judge. This has helped providing transparency and confidence in our operations and has resulted in greater satisfaction among claimants, policyholders and public.

IV) Policyholder Councils And Zonal Advisory Boards: In all the 100 Divisional Centres, Policyholders' Councils have been established. Three policyholders of the area represent the interest of the policyholders and interact with the Divisional Management on consumer concerns. Similarly, at all the seven Zonal Centres, Zonal Advisory Boards are functioning.

V) Consumer Affairs Committee: A Consumer Affairs Committee has been constituted at the Central Office with many eminent consumer activists and members of public joining as members alongwith the Chairman and the Managing Directors of the Corporation. This Committee looks into various areas of consumer interests and advises the Corporation.

VI) Citizens' Charter: LIC has adopted a Citizens Charter through which it reiterates its commitments to the customers and the standards for general procedures, the standards for policy servicing, the standards for easy access to information for customers and the standards for fairness in dealing with the customers have been laid down. PENSION GRIEVANCES CELL

The functions of the Pension Grievances Cell in the Department of Pension and P.W. are as under:-

1. To register the complaints received from various sources pertaining to pensionary matters

2. To forward the complaints to the concerned Ministries/Departments etc.,

3. To pursue with the Departments

4. To remind the Departments and

5. To review and monitor the position every fortnight

6. Pension grievances appearing in the Newspapers/media will be attended to and Editors informed of the action taken.

List of nodal officers

List of Nodal Officers concerned with grievances of pensioners in the various

Ministries/Departments

Sl. No Name of the Name & Designation Address Official Tele. Ministry/Department of the Nodal Officer No. 1. M/o Agriculture D/o Agriculture & Coop. Shri M.R. Kapur, Room No.355, 3387175 Dy. Secretary Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi. D/o Agricultural Research & Education D/o Animal Husbandary & Dairying D/o Food Processing Industries Shri K.K. Vyawahare, Panchsheel Bhawan, 6492089 Director. August Kranti Marg, New Delhi-49. 2. D/o Atomic Energy 3. M/o Chemicals & Fertilizers D/o Chemicals & Petro Chem. Shri Anurag Saxena, R.No.347, ‘A’ Wing, 3384185 Dy. Secretary Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. D/o Fertilisers Shri P.K. Wadhwa, R.No.229-A, 3384889 Dy. Secretary Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. 4. M/o Civil Aviation Shri R.S. Mathur, 60, Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, 4610386 Dy. Secretary ‘B’ Wing, Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi-3. 5. M/o Coal Shri Sushil Kumar, R.No.331, ‘A’ Wing, 3382807 Dy. Secretary 3rd Floor, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-1. 6. M/o Commerce & Industry D/o Supply Shri K.C. Saha, ‘C’, Wing, R.No.135, 3014877 Jt. Secretary Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi. D/o Industrial Policy & Smt. Pramila Raghavendrou, R.No.357, Udyog Bhawan, 3014148 Promotion Under Secretary New Delhi.

D/o Industrial Development

D/o Commerce Shri B.K. Bharat Bhushan, R.No.233, Udyog Bhawan, 3012526 Jt. Secretary. New Delhi. 7. M/o Communications D/o Telecom. Services Shri Shailendra Agarwal, Sanachar Bhawan, 3718070 Dir(ST,II) 20, Ashoka Road, New Delhi D/o Posts 8. M/o Consumers Affairs & P.D. D/o Food Public Distributors Shri D. Sudhakaran, R.No.295, 3382504 Under Secretary (A) Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi. D/o Sugar & Edible Oil 9. M/o Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports D/o Culture D/o Youth Affairs & Sports Shri J.P. Singh, Joint Secretary (Sports) 10. M/o Defence D/o Defence Shri K.G. Goel, R.No.109-A, 3011804 Jt. Secretary(ESW) South Block, New Delhi-1 D/o Defence Production. & Supplies D/o Defence Research & Shri P.P. Sabharwal, Dte. of Personnel, R.No.219, 3013452 Devlopment (DRDO) Jt. Director B-Wing, Sena Bhawan, New Delhi-2. 11. D/o Disinvestment 12. M/o Environment & Forests Shri R.H. Khwaja, Paryavaran Bhawan, 4362551 Jt. Secy(admn.) CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-3 13. M/o External Affairs 14. M/o Finance D/o Economic Affairs Shri Abhas K. Jha, M/o Finance, D/o Economic OFF. 3013355 Dy. Secretary (FB & Admn) Affairs, R.No. 143-A, North RES. 6196417 Block, New Delhi - 1. D/o Expenditure Shri K.D. Upreti, North Block, 3012604 Under Secretary New Delhi-1. Banking Division Shri G.R. Summan, 3rd Floor, Jeevan Deep OFF. 3362782 Dy. Secy. (Bkg. Division) Bldg., Parliament Street, RES. 7164651 New Delhi - 1. Insurance Division Shri P.C. Singh, 206-A, Lok Nayak Bhavan, 4624870 US (Ins. Division) Khan Market, New Delhi - 3. D/o Revenue 15. M/o Health & F.W. D/o Health Shri B.B. Bhattachargee, R.No.305, D-Wing, 3018954 Under Secretary (A-II) Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi. D/o Family Welfare Shri S.C. Srivastava, R.No.242-A, 2nd Floor, 3012157 Director (P) Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi. D/o I.S. Medicine & Homeopathy 16. M/o Industry & Public Enterprises D/o Heavy Industries Shri A.K.Gupta, R.No.124, Udyog Bhawan 3012622 Director New Delhi.

Shri S.C. Bhave, R.No.180, Udyog Bhawan, 3011745 Jt. Secretary New Delhi.

D/o Public Enterprises 17. M/o Home Affairs Shri Yashwant Raj, North Block, 3015785 Jt. Secretary (A&PG) New Delhi-1. D/o Home D/o Internal Security D/o States D/o J&K Affairs D/o Official Language Shri M.L. Gupta, R.No.8, C-Wing, 4611031 JS (OL) 2nd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhawan, New Delhi-3.

Inter State Council Sectt. Shri P.B. Rajappau, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, 3022021 Under Secretary New Delhi-2. 18. M/o Human Resources Development D/o Elementary Education & Shri Job Zachariah, ‘C’ Wing, Shastri Bhawan, 3386561 Literacy Dy. Secretary New Delhi-1. D/o Secondary Education & Higher Education D/o Women & Child Dr.(Smt.) Rekha Bhargava, R.No.615, ‘A’ Wing, 3386227 Development Jt. Secretary Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. 19. M/o Information & Broadcasting 20. M/o Information Technology Shri J.S. Bhatia, Electronics Niketan, 4362279 Jt. Director. 6, CGO Complex, New Delhi-3. 21. M/o Labour 22. M/o Law, Justice & C.A.

D/o Legal Affairs Shri B.A. Agrawal, R.No.418, ‘A’ Wing, 3384630 JS&Legal Adviser Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-1. D/o Legislative Shri M. Das, R.No.411, ‘A’ Wing, OFF: 3382792 DS (Admn.) 4th Floor, Shastri Bhawan, RES: 91-5426247 New Delhi. FAX: 3382733 D/o Justice Shri P.N. Singh, Jaisamer House, 3389286 Dy. Secretary Mansingh Road, New Delhi. D/o Company Affairs Shri A. Ramaswamy, R.No.505, ‘A’ Wing, 3381226 Joint Secretary (Admn.) Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. 23. M/o Mines Shri Rakesh Bhartiya, 3rd Floor, 3385329 Dy. Secretary. Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-1. 24. M/o Non-Convential Energy Dr. K.C. Khandelwal, MNES, Block No.14, 4360396 Resources Adviser(REG), MNES. CGO Complex, Lodi road, New Delhi-3.

25. D/o Ocean Development Shri Girish Pillai, Mahasagar Bhawan, Block- 4360865 Director (Admn.) 12, CGO Complex, Lodi Road, New Delhi. 26. Prime Minister’s Office Shri P.K. Roy, R.No.236-D, 3018130 Under Secretary South Block, New Delhi-2 27. M/o Parliamentary Affairs Smt. Satish Malhotra, R.No.92, Parliament House, 3034763 Dy. Secretary. New Delhi. 3017004 28. M/o Personnel, P.G. & Pensions D/o Personnel & Training D/o AR & PG Shri K.N. Singh, Sardar Patel Bhawan, Sansad 3362369 Director Marg, New Delhi-1. D/o Pension and P.W. 29. M/o Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri A.K. Srivastava, R.No.205-‘B’ Wing, OFF. 3385339 Director 2nd Floor, Shastri Bhawan, RES. 4106601 New Delhi.

30. Planning Commission 31. M/o Power Shri S.N. Burman, R.No.Cab-III, 3715595 Dy. Secretary(A) Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi. 32. M/o Railways 33. M/o Rural Development Shri A.K. Singh, Krishi Bhawan, Director (A) New Delhi. D/o Rural Development D/o Land Resources D/o Drinking Water Supply 34. M/o Science & Technology D/o Science & Technology Smt. Vimla Yadav, Technology Bhawan, OFF. 6864570 Director (Admn.) New Mehrauli Road, RES. 3383279 New Delhi - 16. D/o of Scientific & Industrial Shri. B. D. Vashisth, R.No.107, CSIR, OFF: 373 6842 Research US(Pensioners' Welfare Anusandhan Bhawan, Rafi RES: 682 4496 Cell) Marg, New Delhi - 110 001. FAX: 371 4788, 371 5188

Deptt. of Bio-Technology Shri Anand Kumar, R.No.815, 8th Floor, 4360295 Director Block No.2, CGO Complex, Lodi Road, New Delhi-3 35. M/o Small Scale Industries & Agro & Rural Industries 36. M/o Social Justice & Empowerment 37. D/o Space Shri Chandy Andrews, Antariksh Bhawan, OFF. 3412388 Chief Controller of Accounts New B.E.L. Road, RES. 3347401 Bangalore-94.

38. M/o Statistics & Programme Shri A.K. Sharma, R.No.408, 3365785 Implementation Director Sardar Patel Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi. 39. M/o Steel Shri M.C. Luthra, R.No.118, 3013722 Deputy Secretary Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi. 40. M/o Surface Transport D/o Shipping D/o Road Transpsort & Shri Rajiv Sharma, Transport Bhawan, 1-Sansad 3715139 Highways Dy. Secretary Marg, New Delhi-1.

41. M/o Textiles Shri Chander Bhan, Udyog Bhawan, 3010494 Dy. Secretary New Delhi. 42. M/o Tourism and Culture D/o Tourism D/o Culture Smt. Kasturi Gupta Menon, R.No.334, ‘C’ Wing, 3381198 Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. 43. M/o Tribal Affairs Smt. Kalpana Amar, R.No.214, D-Wing, Second 3387187 Director (Admn.) Floor, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. 44. M/o Urban Development & Shri Niraj Kumar, R.No.138, ‘C’ Wing, Nirman 3012194 Poverty Alleviation Deputy Secretary Bhawan, New Delhi. D/o Urban Development D/o Urban Employment & Poverty Alleviation 45. M/o Water Resources Shri Vijay Kumar, Shram Shakti Bhawan, OFF. 3717129 Dy. Secretary (Coord.) R.No.216A, IInd Floor, RES. 2476478 Rafi Marg, New Delhi.

46. M/o Youth Affairs & Sports 47. Cabinet Sectt. Shri Ravi Mittal, Cabinet Secretariat, OFF. 3792357 Director Rashtrapati Bhawan, RES. 6259159 New Delhi - 110 004. BACK