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Antique white Bisque silver slate green cadet blue white azure Original Conduct of Pension Adalats on Railways.
The intention of conducting Pension Adalats is to examine the grievances ofpensioners so as to redress the same by taking on the spot decisions and to obviatethe delays, if any, in the settlement of their dues. Such a step would go a long way ininstilling a sense of being cared for and attended to in the minds of pensioners andthus dispel their feeling of neglect and isolation.
2. Detailed guidelines have been circulated to the Railways for holding the PensionAdalats on the lines of similar guidelines formulated by the Department of Pensionand Pensioners Welfare (DOP&PW) who are the nodal Department for looking after thewelfare of Central Government Pensioners. The guidelines are given below: — 2.1. The Pension Adalats should be held on Railways/ Production Units on15th December each year or the first working day after that date in case15th is a holiday.
2.2 Wide and adequate publicity through print and visual media and othermeans like posters at prominent places should be given in advance toenable the pensioners to send their cases in time for consideration in suchAdalats. This is necessary, as reference to various records is very oftenessential before a grievance can be redressed. For this purpose, thefollowing time frame should be adopted: (a) Issue of notice by Railway through print and visual media and other means about holding of Pension Adalats indicating date, venue, time of Adalat and the name of Officer to whom the (b) Last date for submission of grievances by Pensioners, which should be indicated in the Notification mentioned above.
2.3. The representation of Pensioners may be acknowledged indicating thedate, venue and time of Pension Adalat.
2.4. The Pension Adalats should be conducted at the level of very seniorOfficers i.e. General Manager/Addl. General Managers, Chief PersonnelOfficers, FA&CAOs and DRMs/ADRMs besides other Officers of Personnel,Accounts and other Departments concerned. The representatives ofBank/other Pension Disbursing Authorities should also be co-opted in thePension Adalats.
2.5 All Officers dealing with pension viz. Senior Officers of Personnel andAccounts Department and Managers of the pension-disbursing Banks ofZonal or Divisional Headquarters should be present with all the relevantrecords so that decisions are not postponed for the sake of referring to therecords.
2.6. The Officers present in the Pension Adalats should be able to takedecisions on the spot to redress the grievances. In this connection it ispertinent to note that such meetings are not to take up policy matters butthey should deal with specific grievances of the individual pensioner, whenrepresented by him personally or by a family member of the Pensioner.
2.7 Cases involving purely legal points e.g. succession etc. cannot betaken up in the Adalat.
2.8. The authorised representatives of the Standing Committee ofVoluntary Agencies (SCOVA) and the recognised Trade Unions may also beinvited to attend the Pension Adalats. But, they should not be permitted topresent the grievances of the Pensioners.
2.9. However, in the case of illiterate Pensioners, widows, minors etc. itmay not be possible for them to effectively prepare and present casesbefore the Adalat. In such cases, if the pensioner is not able to presenthis/her case and he/she seeks the assistance of the representatives ofthe SCOVA attending the Adalat, the SCOVA representatives may bepermitted to present the grievances of such pensioners.
2.10. There are only 2 members in the SCOVA representing the Railways. Itmay happen that the Railway nominees on the SCOVA may not beavailable when Pension Adalats are held on different dates, at differentplaces of the Zonal Railways. In such cases, representatives of SCOVA, asauthorised by the Members of the SCOVA and whose credentials are sentin advance to the Railway Administrations should be allowed to attend thePension Adalats and to present the cases, if necessary.
2.11. It should be ensured that all the cases which are tenable are settledat the time of Pension Adalat itself, but in cases where it is not possible tosettle the same on the spot, it should be settled and finalised within aperiod of three months from the date of holding the Pension Adalat.
2.12. In those cases of grievances, which are not tenable, the Pensionersmay be suitably advised in writing.
2.13. While DRMs may be instructed to hold Pension Adalats on theirrespective Divisions, once in 3 months or so, the working of this grievancemachinery should be monitored at Headquarters level.
2.14. After holding the Pension Adalats, the requisite details in theJanuary every year.
3. It must be mentioned that efforts should always be made to make payment ofsettlement dues immediately on retirement as per normal practice. No case should beheld 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 andDOP&PW, the guidelines should be followed scrupulously to ensure that thegrievances of Pensioners/ Family Pensioners are settled expeditiously without givingany room for complaint whatsoever.
The consolidation has been made from the following circulars:

Source: http://irtsa.net/pdfdocs/Master_Circular_63.pdf