KARNATAKA SANDHYA SURAKSHA SCHEME RULES

 

Rule - 1.

(1)     These rules may be called the Karnataka Sandhya Suraksha Scheme Rules.

(2)     They shall be applicable throughout the Karnataka State.

(3)     These rules shall come into force on 29th July, 2007.

(4)     Purpose.--The purpose of these rules is to provide some relief to the aged by providing financial assistance in the form of social security pension.

(5)     They shall apply to all persons as defined in Rule 6.

(6)     (1) A person will be eligible for pension of Rs. 400/- per month under this scheme if she/he satisfies the following conditions.--

(i)       He/she should be 65 years or more in age;

(ii)      The combined annual income of the proposed pensioner and his or her spouse shall not exceed Rs. 20,000/- as certified by the local revenue authority;

(iii)     If the income is declared by beneficiary himself/herself, the income of Adult children will not be counted for calculation of the income of the proposed social security pensioner;

(iv)    The total value of combined deposits held by the pensioner and his spouse shall not exceeding Rs. 10,000/-;

(v)      Such of the persons availing of Old Age Pension, Destitute Widow Pension or Physically Handicapped Pension or any other form of pension from public or private sources are not eligible for this scheme.

The persons who are destitute and more than 65 years of age should be covered under existing OAP Scheme as per its guidelines. Only those cases which are outside OAP Scheme guidelines but fall within this proposed scheme guidelines need to be covered under this scheme;

(vi)    The beneficiaries under this scheme will be chosen from the following categories.--

(a)      small farmers;

(b)      marginal farmers;

(c)      agricultural labourers;

(d)      weavers;

(e)      fishermen;

(f)       labourers from unorganised sector but it shall not applicable to person covered under the "Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996.

Note 1.--The definition of small farmers, marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, weavers and fishermen as already available in other schemes in force shall be considered for this purpose also. However occupation certificate in Form SSY-I(B) is necessary in respect of weavers, fishermen and other occupations issued by the Tahsildar as also certificate of Small Farmer, Marginal Farmer and Agricultural labourer as per existing norms issued by the Tahsildar.

Note 2.--The following categories are included under the unorganised sector labourers, (a) Hotel labourers; (b) Agarbathi workers; (c) Carpentary/timber workers; (d) Stone cutters; (e) Security agency workers; (f) Shops and commercial casual labourers; (g) Leather workers; (h) Domestic workers, (i) Vendors; (j) Others to specify.

Note 3.--"Unorganised worker" means a self-employed worker or a wage worker in the unorganised sector and includes wage workers in the organised sector without any social security cover.

Note 4.--"Unorganised sector" includes all unincorporated private enterprises owned by individuals or household engaged in the production and sale of goods and services and operated on a proprietary or partnership basis and employing less than 10 persons.

(vii)   The pensioner has to declare that their combined deposits are not more than Rs. 10,000/-.

(7)     The amount of pension will be Rs. 400/- per month irrespective of the locality in the State in which the person may be residing.

(8)     A pension under these rules will be tenable till death or it shall also cease as soon as any circumstances happen which terminate the eligibility status of the pensioner.

(9)     The Tahsildar of the Taluk in whose jurisdiction the person resides shall be the authority competent to sanction the pension.

(10)   The Tahsildar or his Subordinate Officers shall take steps to enquiry into the eligibility of a beneficiary for pension under these rules in any of the following circumstances.--

(i)       On an application from the beneficiary; or

(ii)      On an intimation with necessary particulars (in Form SSY-I) made by a member of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Legislative Assembly, Legislative Council or a Panchayat President or the Manager of a poor house or charitable institution, or a Gazetted Government servant of the State or Central Government; or

(iii)     Suo motu.

(11)   Applications for Sandhya Suraksha Scheme Pension or an intimation under Rule 10(ii) shall be sent in duplicate to the Tahsildar of the Taluk in which beneficiary ordinarily resides. No Court fee stamp need be affixed to the application. Application forms can be obtained from the Taluk Offices, Offices of Panchayats, Village Officers, Municipal Officers and the office of the Corporation of Bangalore. If printed forms are not available, the application may be submitted in Form SSY-I written on plain paper.

(12)   Immediately on the receipt of an application for Sandhya Suraksha Scheme Pension, the Tahsildar should furnish to the applicant, without fail, an acknowledgement in Form SSY-I(A).

(13)   The applications or the information received under Rule 10 shall be entered by the Tahsildar in a register maintained in Form SSY-II.

(14)   Before enquiring into the case of a beneficiary, the Tahsildar shall verify the previous entries in the register in Form SSY-II to ascertain whether the case of the same beneficiary has been already considered and if so, how it has been disposed of. He shall then proceed to verify with reference to the date of birth mentioned in the Voters Identification Card issued by the Election Commission of India, domicile, residence and economic condition of the applicant. For the purpose of verification the Tahsildar may conduct enquiries personally or through his subordinates. The Enquiring Officer shall not in any case be lower in rank than a Revenue Inspector. The Enquiring Officer shall personally see the beneficiary and such other persons as he considers necessary, to satisfy himself about the genuineness and eligibility of the case. He shall submit his report to the Tahsildar with his specific recommendation. In cases where action is initiated otherwise than under clause (i) of Rule 10, the Enquiring Officer shall complete the Form SSY-I himself by enquiring the beneficiary and obtain his/her signature or thumb impression.

(15)   Verification of age will be done with reference to the date of birth mentioned in the Voters Identification Card issued by the Election Commission of India. The Enquiring Officer may also verify it from such other sources as are available so as to be reasonably satisfied about the statement of the applicant. In cases where the statement of the applicant is not supported by records or enquiry reports and or the Tahsildar, after personal interview, feels a genuine doubt as to his age, he may call for the opinion of the medical officer of the nearest Government Hospital or L.F. Dispensary or Primary Health Centre and then arrive at his conclusion regarding age.

(16)   Before sanction, the Tahsildar should examine all the applications during his inspection.

(17)   After verification, the Enquiring Officer shall fill up a report in Form SSY-III and send it with an application to the Tahsildar. The other copy of the application will be retained by him. The Tahsildar shall call for such further' particulars as he may consider necessary. On being satisfied regarding the status of the applicant, he will issue the sanction order. The order sanctioning the pension will be communicated monthly on or before the 10th of every month in a consolidated form to the Accountant General, the Government in Revenue Department; the Director of Social Security and Pensions, Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and individually as and when sanctions are accorded to the pensioner and the District Treasury Officer in Form SSY-IV. If there are no sanction in a particular month, the Tahsildar will forward a "NIL" statement by 10th of the following month to the Accountant General and others. Such sanctions shall be communicated by the Tahsildars to the Village Officers concerned. The District Treasury Officer and the Tahsildar will maintain in Form SSY-V, a register of persons who have been sanctioned pensions under these rules, entries in such register being attested personally by them. The register kept by the District Treasury Officer will serve also as a register of pension payment orders.

Persons whose applications are rejected shall be informed of the fact and the reasons therefor, within a week from the date on which the orders of rejection are passed.

(18)   Sandhya Suraksha Yojana Pension applications shall be disposed of within a maximum period of 2 months from the date of receipt in the Taluk Office.

(19)   The pension sanctioned under this Scheme will not be liable to attachment under any process of law.

(20)   The Tahsildar may propose the stoppage of a pension, if in any case it is found that it was sanctioned on mistaken grounds or false information, or the conditions of the grant of pension no longer exists. Pension shall also be stopped in case, the pensioner is convicted of a crime involving mortal turpitude The Revenue Inspector and the Village Accountant will be responsible for furnishing information under this rule in this behalf without any delay.

(21)   The Village Accountant of each village shall maintain a register of beneficiary pensioners for the village in Form SSY-V. It shall be his duty to intimate in Form SSY-VI to the Tahsildar and to the District Treasury Officer, Sub-Treasury Officer, the death of the pensioner or a change in his/her address. The Village Register in Form SSY-V shall be open to inspection by Officers of the Revenue Department (sic) lower in rank than a Revenue Inspector. It shall be the duty of those officers while camping in the village to verify the existence of the pensioners and report the facts to the Tahsildar wherever necessary.

(22)   (i) Each Tahsildar shall make, in respect of pensioners in his area, yearly verification of the face that the pensioner is alive and continued to be a eligible person as prescribed in Rule 6. This verification shall be made by the Tahsildar once in a year, in the month corresponding to the month in which the pension was originally sanctioned; a report indicating the results of such verification should be sent to the Assistant Commissioner and to the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer. The report should also contain the names and pension numbers of those pensioners who are no longer alive and those who have ceased to be eligible persons.

(ii) The Tahsildar should review the reports carefully and take prompt action in every case where he finds that the conditions for the grant of pension no longer exist or the pensioners have ceased to be eligible persons, he shall cancel the sanction order, send the cancellation order to the pensioner and also to the pension disbursing officer. Such orders should be passed and communicated to the disbursing officer by the end of the month following the month of verification.

(iii) As soon as the receipt of the report of the Tahsildar, the disbursing officer should stop the remittances of pensions in all cases where the Tahsildar has reported that the conditions for the grant of pension no longer exist or the pensioners have ceased to be beneficiary persons.

(iv) On receipt of the cancellation order passed by the Tahsildar, the disbursing officer shall stop further payments to such persons.

(v) On the bill for pension, the disbursing officer should record a certificate to the effect that he has received the report of verification mentioned above in respect of the month (to be specified) and has taken action to stop the payment of pension in every case in which it has been reported that the conditions for the grant of pension no longer exist or the pensioners have ceased to be beneficiary persons

(23)   The Tahsildar should conduct a random sample verification of five per cent of the cases where Sandhya Suraksha Scheme Pension has been sanctioned more than a year prior to the date of verification and furnish their report along with the reports of their Revenue Inspectors to their Deputy Commissioners by the 15th of November of every year.

They should also ensure the immediate stoppage of Sandhya Suraksha Scheme Pension in all cases where such stoppage is called for under the provisions of Rule 16.

A copy of the report of the Tahsildar and a copy of the report of the Assistant Commissioner should also be furnished to the Finance Department of Government by the 15th November of every year.

Simultaneously a copy of the report should also be sent to the Accountant General, Karnataka, Bangalore.

(24)   The District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officers shall be the Authority for the payment of pension.

The pension shall be payable with effect from the date of the order of the Sanctioning Authority.

(25)   The pension shall become due for payment only on the expiry of the month to which it relates.

(26)   The pension under this Scheme is not commutable.

(27)   In the case of death of a beneficiary pensioner, the undrawn pension till the date of his death shall lapse.

(28)   It shall be the duty of the pensioner to intimate any change of his address to the Tahsildar who will, in turn, advise the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer who pays the pension.

(29)   The amount of pension shall be remitted to the pensioner to his Bank Account or Post Office Savings Account from the Treasury directly.

(30)   The District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer shall arrange the remittance of pensions not later than the fourteenth of every month. For this purpose a register in Form SSY-VII shall be used and it will be kept Taluk-wise.

(31)   The District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer shall send to the concerned Bank Authorities/Postal Authorities along with the required cheques. Particular case should be taken to see that correct and complete information of the name and address of the payee is given. A record of each payment shall be made in the appropriate column of the register of pension payment (Form SSY-VII). The District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer shall sign the statement and initial the entries in the register after carefully comparing the concerned documents.

(32)   No remittance shall be made for a month unless the acknowledgement for the previous month has been obtained and a note to that effect has been recorded in the above register or till satisfactory proof is available that the money has been correctly paid to the pensioner for the previous month.

(33)   The District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer shall attest personally all the entries in the SSY Pension Payment Order Register of the Treasury Form SSY-V. Whenever any intimation necessitating the correction of the entries in the registers like death of pension or change of address is received, the entries should be made in the registers in Forms SSY-V and VII under attestation.

(34)   The payee's acknowledgements for every remittance shall be watched in the District Treasury/Sub-Treasury and, on receipt, shall be serially arranged and recorded in the Register (Form SSY-VII) and stamped 'cancelled' and retained in the Treasury. If the receipt of the payee's acknowledgement is delayed longer than 30 days from the date of the remittance or if a complaint is received regarding non-payment, the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer shall forthwith institute necessary enquiries with the postal authorities and also cause necessary investigation through the Revenue Authorities.

(35)   The Treasury Officer will follow mutatis mutandis, the procedure applicable to civil pensions for remitting these pensions by Savings Bank Account and for watching the acknowledgement thereof.

(36)   (i) Every pensioner will be provided with an Identification Card in Form SSY-VIII furnishing therein his marks of identification, his passport size photo, the amount of pension payable to him and the conditions of pension in case of terminable pension. Pensioners will be bound to produce this and to the postman delivering the money order or to the Tahsildars and his Subordinate Officers making any enquiries in connection with his pension. The loss of this Identification Card will entail the stoppage of pension until it is proved to the satisfaction of the Tahsildar that the loss was due to reasons beyond the control of the pensioner.

(ii) The Tahsildar of the area in which the pensioners are residing should issue the Identification Card to the pensioners.

(iii) The pensioners should produce at their own cost their passport size photograph in triplicate within six months from the date, of sanction of pension.

(iv) All the three copies of the photograph shall be attested by the Tahsildar by his signature and the seal of office. They shall be pasted on the Identification Card and in the register maintained in Form SSY-II in the Taluk Office and that maintained in Form SSY-V, under Rule 21 of the SSY Pension rules respectively. The Identification Card should be checked with reference to the photograph pasted in the registers at the time of verification of the existence of the pensioners under the aforesaid rule as well as Rule 22 ibid.

(v) The printed forms of Identification Card (Form SSY-VIII) shall be supplied by the Director of Printing, Stationery and Publications, Bangalore to the Tahsildars immediately on receipt of their indent.

(37)   All the acknowledgements of payments shall be filed in the treasury after scrutinising whether the payment has been received by the addressee. In the cases where payment has been received by a person other than the addressee and fraud is suspected, the Treasury Officer shall address the Tahsildar to institute necessary enquiries in the matter.

(38)   The amount of undisbursed pension shall be treated as abatement of charge under the head of account indicated in Rule 41 to which the amounts of money orders issued will be debited. A monthly detailed schedule of such undisbursed pensions shall be forwarded to the Accountant General by the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer showing the number and date of the challan, the month to which the pension relates and the name and account number of the pensioners for necessary adjustment of the amount to the expenditure head.

(39)   In the case of a change of the address of the pensioner brought to the notice of the Tahsildar either by the pensioner or by the Village Officers, the following procedure shall be adopted. If the new address is within the same taluk, the Tahsildar shall carry out the corrections in his registers and also intimate the necessary details to the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer for making necessary corrections in his office. He shall also take steps to verify whether the conditions for the continued grant of pension exist. If the new address lies in some other taluk within the district the Tahsildar shall forthwith intimate the change of address to the other Tahsildar and the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer. The former shall thereupon take steps to ascertain the existence of the pensioner with his taluk and if the conditions exist for the continued grant of pension make necessary entries in Register in the Form SSY-II and intimate the change to the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer, who shall thereupon mention the new Taluk in place of the old in the Pension Payment Order Register of Pensions remitted by Savings Bank Account-Form SSY-VII. Further payment of pension will not be made until the receipt of the report of the Tahsildar of the new Taluk furnishing the identification of the pensioner and his opinion about the pensioner's continued destitute status.

(39-A) (1) In case a pensioner changes his residence to another District within the State, the procedure laid down in Rule 39, in respect of change of address within different taluks, situated in the same District should be followed and subject to the conditions laid down therein, the payment of pension shall be continued to be made by the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer of the area in which the pensioner was residing before his migration. Immediately on receipt of intimation of the change of address, the Tahsildar shall intimate the change of address to the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer and the Tahsildar of the area in which the new residence of the pensioner is situated. The Tahsildar to whom the change of address is thus communicated, shall immediately the conditions exist for the continued grant of pension, cause necessary entries to be made in the Registers in Forms SSY-II and SSY-V and request the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer, of the place where the pensioner was previously residing to continue payment of pension. If the conditions of continuation are no longer satisfied, he shall report the matter to the Tahsildar, immediately for cancellation of pension. The District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer shall record the change of address in the Registers maintained by him in Forms SSY-V and SSY-VII and shall resume payment of pension only after receipt of the report of the Tahsildar of the new Taluk, furnishing the identification marks of the pensioner and his continued entitlement for pension.

(2) In case a pensioner migrates outside the State, the payment of pension shall be stopped forthwith.

Note I.-- (a) Immediately on receipt of information of the death of a pensioner, the District Treasury Officer should transmit the information to the Accountant General in the following form.--

(1)     Name of the pensioner;

(2)     Particulars of the order in which payment of Sandhya Suraksha Yojana Pension was sanctioned:

(i)       Designation of the Officer who issued the sanction order;

(ii)      Number and date of the order.

(3)     Date of death of the pensioner

(b) The District Treasury Officer shall also certify in the said form that necessary entries have been made in the check register of SSY Pension payments prescribed Rules 21 and 31 and that the unwanted monthly payment pages in the register have also been scored out.

Note II.--The District Treasury Officer should necessarily send to the Accountant Genera) a report of deaths of SSY Pensioners. Such reports should be sent by the 15th of the month following the month for which the report is sent. For the months for which no deaths of pensioners are reported to him by the officers concerned, a "NIL" report should be sent to the Accountant General, Karnataka, Bangalore.

(40)   On receipt of intimation of the death of a pensioner, the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer shall take steps to have necessary entries made in his registers in Forms SSY-V and SSY-VII and to stop further remittances.

(41)   The expenditure on the SSY Pension Scheme shall be debited to the new head "SSY" Scheme under:

(42)   Government may at any time suspend, revoke or discontinue the SSY Pension Scheme or restrict sanctions depending on the availability of funds.

(43)   Government reserve to themselves the power to recover the amount of SSY Pension drawn by any person on the basis of any declaration which is later found to be not true.

(44)   (a) If any applicant for the grant of SSY Pension gives false information regarding his or her income and other particulars prescribed in the application with a fraudulent and dishonest intention to induce the official to sanction pension, criminal complaints can be lodged against him or her for an offence of cheating.

(b) The SSY Pension paid to the persons can also be recovered by filing a suit However, before filing a suit it has to be verified whether the persons who have obtained SSY Pension possess any property so as to realise the decree amount if decree is obtained against them.

(c) The Administrative Department shall also take disciplinary action against the officials who have recommended the SSY Pension cases in respect of such applicants without making proper enquiry as provided for in these rules.

 

FORM SSY-I

[Rule 11]

Application for Sandhya Suraksha Yojana Pension

District :.....................................................

Taluk: ..................................

Village:......................................................

Town: .........................................

All particulars furnished by me are correct to the best of my knowledge. If any information furnished by me is found at any time to be not true, I hereby undertake to repay to Government the pension drawn by me.

 

FORM SSY-I (A)

[Rule 12]

Acknowledgement Form

Office of the Tahsildar….......... Taluk …......... Received on ….... the application of Sri/Smt. …......................... for Sandhya Suraksha Yojana Pension.

 

FORM SSY-I (B)

[Note 1 under Rule 6(1)]

Occupation Certificate

This is to certify that Sri/Smt....................... Son/husband of .......... residing at No. ........................................ is working as ............ for the past ...........years.

He/she is aged about.............years.

 

FORM SSY-II

[Rule 13]

Register of Applications for Sandhya Suraksha Yojana Pension

 

 

 

FORM SSY-III

[Rule 11]

Report of the Enquiring Officer

I have made necessary enquiries as required in the SSY rules and submit the following report.—

 

I certify that I have verified and find the details furnished by the Enquiring Officer as above are satisfactory to the best of my knowledge and belief.

 

FORM SSY-IV

[Rule 17]

Office of the Tahsildar,

.........Taluk

Subject: Grant of Sandhya Suraksha Yojana Pension to Sri/Smt. ..........

Order No. .............

Dated:...............

With reference to the Report No..........., dated.............of the Enquiring Officer, ......... Hobli, ......... Taluk .......... on the subject mentioned above sanction is accorded to the payment of Sandhya Suraksha Yojana Pension of Rs. ........(Rupees...........only) per mensem to the person mentioned below with effect from the date of this order till his/her death or upto cancellation whichever is earlier.

(1)       Payment shall be made by the District Treasury Officer/Sub-Treasury Officer to the Post Office Savings Bank Account or Deposit directly to the Bank Account of the beneficiary...........

(2)       The pensioner/payee should intimate any change of address at any time to the Tahsildar...........without delay. Delay will result in the payment of pension being postponed.

(3)       This order is liable to cancellation if it is found that the pension was sanctioned on mistaken grounds or on false information furnished by the person of Enquiry Officer.

To

Tahsildar

…..........

Taluk

The District Treasury Officer…....

Copy to:

The Deputy Commissioner…............

The pensioner/payee…......................

The Village Accountant…..................

 

FORM SSY-V

[Rules 17 and 21]

Register of Pension Payment Order's of Sandhya Suraksha Yojane Pensions

 

* To be filled up in red ink

Enter the name of Institution here if the pensioner is an inmate of a poor house

 

FORM SSY-VI

[Rule 21]

Form of intimation of death/change of address, etc., of Sandhya Suraksha Yojana Pensioner

District:...................

Taluk: ..............

Village/Town:................

(1)     Sri/Smt......................Tension No. ..............died on the.................. day of...............200...

(2)     Sri/Smt. .................Pension No. ................has changed his/her address as follows:

.........................

(3)     Sri/Smt.................Pension No. ........................has left the village.

His/her address after leaving the village is............not known.

(4)     Sri/Smt ............................... is no longer an inmate of ...............

His/her SSY Pension should be stopped with effect from (month)........year.

Place: ...............

Date: ...............

Seal.

Signature of the Village Accountant

(* Strike out whichever is not applicable)

 

FORM SSY-VII

[Rules 30 and 31]

Check Register of Pension Payment

 

Space for affixing specimen signature slip of pensioner.

Space for keeping notes regarding the reports received from the Tahsildar, regarding existence and condition of the Sandhya Suraksha Scheme Pensioner.

 

FORM SSY-VIII

[Rule 36]

Government of Karnataka

Sandhya Suraksha Scheme

Identification Card