Ex-Army personnel aggrieved as pension for January credited without DA component

The former servicemen are facing pension woes after the government switched to a new online pension disbursing system, controlled by the Allahabad-based Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions) to ease different aspects of defence pensions including initiation, sanction, computation, revision and disbursement.

Scores of former servicemen, including several three-star officers, were shocked to see their pension slips for January 2022 as a vital component of their retirement income --- the dearness allowance (DA) --- was not credited into their bank accounts by the government’s pension disbursing authority without offering any explanation, Hindustan Times has learnt.

Central government employees, including pensioners, are entitled to a DA equivalent to 31% of their basic pay or pension. (AFP | Representational Image)

Central government employees, including pensioners, are entitled to a DA equivalent to 31% of their basic pay or pension. The glitch has meant that retired colonels, for instance, were paid around ₹31,000 less than the usual and former lieutenant generals around ₹37,000 less, people familiar with the matter said.

The former servicemen are facing pension woes after the government switched to a new online pension disbursing system, controlled by the Allahabad-based Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions) to ease different aspects of defence pensions including initiation, sanction, computation, revision and disbursement.

The new system called SPARSH, or System for Pension Administration (Raksha), involves crediting pensions directly into the accounts of former servicemen without relying on any external intermediary (banks), officials said. The officers affected are the ones who retired after 2016 as pensioners are being moved to the new system in phases.

“During the month of January 2022, a total of 128,114 defence pensioners have been migrated from various banks to SPARSH. Out of which, 1058 pensioners were not paid dearness relief on pension.” said PCDA (P)’s Saurabh Chandra Ghosh, one of the nodal officers for SPARSH. He said arrears would be paid to pensioners if entitled.

What has upset the former servicemen even more is that PCDA (P) did not inform them why DA was not credited along with their pension, that they were unable to get through to the nodal officers, and that the helpline number given on the organisation’s website was unreachable.

“I approached my bank to figure out what was wrong. The bank said it had no role to play as I was now part of the new system. It appears that PCDA (P) did not do its homework before switching to SPARSH,” said a retired lieutenant general who asked not to be named.

According to PCDA (P), the SPARSH comprehensive pension package, an end-to-end online system, seeks top to ensure “the right payment to the right pensioner at the right time through digital processing” of the pensions of more than three million defence pensioners.

“If that was the objective, it has certainly not been met. Even logging on to the SPARSH website is a big hassle,” said another three-star officer. PCDA (P) says the need for SPARSH was felt to obviate and address the existing challenges in the pension sanctioning and disbursement process such as “decentralised solution existing in silos, manual intervention in processing and lack of centralised information for addressing pensioner queries.”

Former director general of military operations Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia (retd), a pre-2016 retiree and thus far not affected by the switch to SPARSH, said the transition to the new system appears to have created avoidable problems and led to harassment of veterans.

“The previous system was working well. I don’t see SPARSH bringing in any benefits.” he added.

Ghosh said that according to rules, pensioners who report to their pension disbursement agencies that they have been re-employed are not entitled to dearness relief. “On analysis, it was found that banks in their master data mentioned that these 1058 pensioners were not entitled for dearness relief. Arrears will be paid to these pensioners along with their February pension, if entitled,” Ghosh added.

But the argument did not cut ice with the veterans. “Three-star officers are not re-employed. What is PCDA (P) even talking about? ” a third lieutenant general said on condition of anonymity.

“The problem has arisen because of mistake made by banks. We will get it rectified as soon as possible,” a senior defence ministry official said.