Earlier, the mode of salary and pension payment was by cash. This system has been dispensed with and now the salary and pension amounts are being directly credited to the Bank of account of the respective in-service employees and retired employees. The beneficiaries have no problem if the amount is credited to the Bank account. It has been made mandatory that those drawing pension and family pension have to prove once in a year that they are alive. For which they are obligated to produce life certificate through the Banks to the pension disbursing authorities or the pensioners have to go to the office to sign in a register. The moot point is, what if a pensioner or family pensioner dies on the very first day (or on any day after that) of producing life certificate or signing in the register and what if the heirs of the pensioners do not report that the pensioner or family pensioner is dead. The pension disbursing officer will go on crediting the amount to the Bank account of the pensioner/family pensioner in the 11 or 12 months. If a pensioner dies and the matter is not informed to the pension disbursing authorities, pension payment made after the death of the pensioner can be recovered from the family pension payable to the spouse of the deceased pensioner. Even that may not be possible if the spouse of the pensioner is pre-deceased. Excess payment made to the family pensioner cannot be recovered at all unless the heirs of the deceased family pensioner report the matter to the pension disbursing authorities promptly and immediately to stop the family pension. If the heirs of the pensioners/ family pensioners have obtained post-dated cheques from the pensioner, such persons can go on drawing the amount by producing the cheque every month until next time the pensioner/family pensioner is supposed to prove that he is alive. No effort seems to have been made to ascertain if there are cases of amount credited to the Bank account after the death of pensioner or family pensioner. It may not be desirable to go back to the system of cash payment. At least it can be made obligatory for the pensioner or family pensioner to go to the Banks and draw full or part of their pension amount every month to prove that the pensioner/family pensioner is alive. If the pensioner/family pensioner does not draw the amount until the last day of the calendar month following the month of amount credited, the Bank authorities must report to the authorities concerned to withhold the pension of the subsequent month until the pensioner/family pensioner draws the amount. In the case of bed-ridden pensioners/family pensioners, it must be made mandatory every month to produce the life certificate issued by any officer of the Gazetted rank as precautionary measure to avoid pension payment after the death of the pensioner.
