The Centre has empowered itself by amending rules relating to retirement benefits of IAS (Indian Administrative service), IPS (Indian Police Service) and IFoS (Indian Forest Service) pensioners, which will give the central government the sole authority to withhold or withdraw their pension even without a reference from the state government if they are found guilty of grave misconduct or are convicted of a serious crime.
Under the Official Secrets Act, ‘grave misconduct’ includes communication or disclosure of any document or information mentioned in the Official Secrets Act and a ‘serious crime’ includes any crime involving an offence, said the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in a notification on the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Amendment Rules, 2023.
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The argument behind such an amendment was that often state governments do not send a reference for action against ‘retired officials even after conviction by courts of law.’
The amendment of the rules confirms that the rule of the Union government on withholding or withdrawing the pension “shall be final”.
In some cases, those who have served in any intelligence or security-related organisation “shall, without prior clearance from the Head of such Organisation, make any publication after retirement of any material” would be against the law.
This includes “any reference or information about any personnel and his designation, and expertise or knowledge gained by virtue of working in that organisation; and sensitive information,” reported The Indian Express.
This amendment replicates a similar change made in 2021 in Central Services Pension Rules, which prevented the retired security officials from publishing anything without the Union government’s approval.