Additional reliefs to a pension and protection from attachment

Beyond the basic pension: the additional reliefs and medical benefits that add to it, and the legal protection that exempts a pension from attachment under a court decree.

Updated 24 July 2026 · Reviewed by Salary-Calculator.in

A central government pension is more than the basic monthly figure. Around it sits a set of additional reliefs and benefits that increase it or support the pensioner, the dearness relief and the additional pension in old age, the medical allowances and the health scheme, and behind it stands a legal protection that keeps the pension out of the reach of a creditor. This article draws these together: what adds to a pension, what supports the pensioner’s health, and how the pension is protected from attachment under a court decree. The reliefs and medical benefits are each treated in full in their own articles, and this piece ties them together and links to them; the substantive detail here is the protection of the pension itself.

The reason to see them as a whole is that a pensioner, or a family, needs to know both sides: the additions that make the pension larger than the bare figure, and the protection that makes it secure. A pension is designed as a dependable income for life, and the law reflects that on both counts, by topping it up for age and infirmity and by shielding it from seizure. Understanding the reliefs prevents a pensioner leaving money undrawn; understanding the protection prevents a pensioner being pressured into surrendering an income the law does not allow to be taken.

This article sets out the additional reliefs that increase a pension, the medical support that accompanies it, and then, in detail, the protection of a pension from attachment under a court decree, the statutory basis of that protection, its main exception for a maintenance decree, and the limited, lawful deductions the government itself may make. Every load-bearing point is tied to the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, the Pensions Act, 1871, or the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

The additional reliefs that increase a pension

Two additions increase the amount of a pension over its basic figure, and both are automatic rather than claimed. The first is dearness relief , the cost-of-living relief added to the basic pension and revised twice a year in line with the dearness allowance for serving employees, so that the real value of the pension is protected against inflation. Dearness relief is paid on the basic pension and on the additional pension, and it is the single largest addition to a pension over time.

The second is the additional pension in old age , the additional quantum of pension that begins at the age of 80. It is 20 per cent of the basic pension from 80, rising to 30 per cent at 85, 40 per cent at 90, 50 per cent at 95, and 100 per cent at 100, so that a pension doubles for a centenarian. The additional pension recognises that the very old often face higher costs and fewer other resources, and it is added automatically on the strength of the date of birth recorded in the Pension Payment Order , without a separate application. Together, dearness relief and the additional pension are the reliefs that make the pension actually drawn larger than the figure first sanctioned.

The medical support alongside a pension

Medical support is the other main addition, and it takes a few forms depending on the pensioner’s circumstances. A pensioner not covered by the Central Government Health Scheme receives the fixed medical allowance , a flat Rs. 1,000 a month to meet the cost of day-to-day outdoor medical treatment, in recognition that such a pensioner has no scheme dispensary to turn to. A pensioner who is covered by the scheme, or who has specified indoor treatment, is instead served by the scheme itself and by the reimbursement of medical expenses , which is the more valuable route for serious treatment. The health scheme for pensioners sets out how a pensioner joins and uses it.

A distinct and larger medical benefit is the constant attendant allowance , Rs. 8,438 a month, paid on top of a disability pension to a pensioner who is 100 per cent disabled and certified to need a constant attendant. It is not a general medical allowance but a specific support for the most severely disabled pensioners, and it was last enhanced with effect from 1 January 2024. These medical benefits, the fixed medical allowance, the reimbursement and the health scheme, and the constant attendant allowance for the severely disabled, are the health-related additions that accompany a pension, each detailed in its own article.

The protection of a pension from a court decree

Beyond what is added to a pension stands the protection of the pension itself, and this is the part least well known to pensioners. As a general rule, a pension cannot be attached, seized, or sequestered by a court at the instance of a creditor. The protection is statutory and long-standing: Section 11 of the Pensions Act, 1871 provides that no pension granted or continued by the government on account of past services is liable to seizure, attachment, or sequestration by process of any court at the instance of a creditor, for any demand against the pensioner. The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 carries the same protection into the law of execution: clause (g) of the proviso to Section 60(1) exempts the stipends and gratuities allowed to pensioners of the government, and political pensions, from attachment in execution of a decree.

The effect is that an ordinary creditor of a pensioner, a lender, a trader, or anyone holding a money decree against the pensioner, cannot have the pension attached to satisfy that decree. The pension is treated as a protected income meant for the pensioner’s subsistence, and the law places it beyond the ordinary process by which a decree is enforced against a debtor’s property. This is a deliberate protection of the pensioner, not a loophole: it ensures that a person who has retired on a pension is not left destitute by the enforcement of a debt against the one income they have.

The main exception: a maintenance decree

The protection is strong but not absolute, and its most important exception is a decree for maintenance. The courts have consistently held that the exemption of a pension from attachment does not shield it against a decree for the maintenance of the pensioner’s spouse or child, because a maintenance obligation is not an ordinary debt and the dependant is not an ordinary creditor. A spouse or child who has obtained a maintenance order can, in principle, reach the pension for it, notwithstanding the general exemption, because the purpose of the exemption, to secure the pensioner and their dependants, is not served by allowing the pensioner to avoid maintaining those very dependants out of the pension.

This exception is the practical one a pensioner is most likely to meet, and it is worth stating plainly: the pension is protected from creditors but not from a lawful maintenance obligation to a spouse or child. Outside maintenance, the exemption holds against ordinary debts, and a creditor cannot use a money decree to attach the pension. The line the law draws is between a debt, from which the pension is protected, and a maintenance duty, which the pension can be made to answer.

The lawful deductions the government may make

The one party that can reach a pension or gratuity, within defined limits, is the government itself, and only for its own defined dues. Under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 the government may recover its assessed dues from the retirement gratuity, a licence fee for government accommodation cleared through the no demand certificate , an unrecovered advance, or an overpayment, as set out under withholding and recovery from gratuity . Recovery from the monthly pension itself is more tightly confined and is not made at large; a pecuniary loss established against a pensioner in a disciplinary proceeding can be recovered from the pension only within the limits the rules set, and not below the minimum pension.

An overpayment made to a pensioner can be recovered in defined cases, but the courts have limited recovery from retired and low-paid employees where the overpayment was the government’s own error and not the employee’s misrepresentation, so even the government’s recovery from a pension is not unqualified. The general position is that the pension is protected from outsiders altogether and from the government except for its defined dues, recovered under the rules and subject to the minimum pension floor. This is consistent with the character of a pension as a right, not a bounty, that the revision of pension and the arrears mechanism also reflect.

Pension in the pensioner’s hands: the unsettled question

One question that recurs is whether the protection continues after the pension money has been paid into the pensioner’s bank account. The statutory exemption clearly protects the pension up to the point it reaches the pensioner. Whether the same money remains protected once it is credited and mingled with the pensioner’s other funds is not fully settled: some courts have held that once the pension is received it becomes the pensioner’s money like any other and may then be reached, while others have held that it retains its protected character as pension even after credit. A pensioner facing an attachment of a bank account should therefore not assume either way, and should raise the exemption, because the pension component of the account may be protected.

The safest statement is that the pension is protected as it flows to the pensioner, and that the protection of the money once received is a question that turns on the facts and the view the court takes. For the pensioner the practical point is to be aware that the exemption exists and to assert it, rather than to treat a pension as freely attachable once paid. The income tax treatment of the pension is a separate matter and does not bear on this protection.

No assignment of a pension in anticipation

Related to the protection from attachment is the rule that a pensioner cannot assign or create a charge on the pension in anticipation of it. A pensioner cannot validly promise the pension away, or pledge it as security, before it is due, because to allow that would defeat the very protection the law gives. This keeps the pension available to the pensioner as it falls due rather than allowing it to be signed over to a lender in advance, and it works with the attachment exemption to keep the pension a secure, personal income for life. The pension, in short, is protected both from being taken by a creditor and from being given away in advance.

Across the schemes and the 8th Central Pay Commission

The reliefs and protections here apply to a pensioner on the defined-benefit rules under the Old Pension Scheme , and, so far as a pension arises, under the Unified Pension Scheme ; an annuity or withdrawal under the National Pension System is governed by that scheme and its own rules. The additional pension, dearness relief, and the medical benefits attach to a central government pension as described in their own articles, and the statutory protection from attachment applies to a government pension as such.

The 8th Central Pay Commission , constituted in November 2025, will revise pay and pension and so the rupee figures here, the fixed medical allowance, the constant attendant allowance, and the pension the reliefs are computed on, will change once the revised figures are notified. The structure, the additional pension slabs, the medical benefits, and the statutory protection from attachment, is set by the pension rules and the governing statutes and is not a pay commission matter. Any revised figure attributed to the 8th Central Pay Commission is a projection until the Commission reports and revised rules are notified.

In force today

Beyond the basic pension, a central government pensioner receives dearness relief, an additional pension from age 80 (20 per cent of the basic pension, rising to 100 per cent at 100), and medical support through the fixed medical allowance (Rs. 1,000 a month if not covered by the health scheme), the reimbursement of medical expenses and the health scheme, and the constant attendant allowance (Rs. 8,438 a month for a 100 per cent disabled pensioner). The pension itself is protected: it cannot be attached in execution of a court decree at the instance of a creditor, under Section 11 of the Pensions Act, 1871 and clause (g) of the proviso to Section 60(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. The main exception is a maintenance decree for a spouse or child. The government may recover only its defined dues under the pension rules, subject to the minimum pension, and a pension cannot be assigned in anticipation.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What additional reliefs are paid on a pension?

Beyond the basic pension a central government pensioner receives dearness relief, a cost-of-living relief revised twice a year, and, from the age of 80, an additional pension that rises from 20 per cent of the basic pension at 80 to 100 per cent at 100. Medical support comes through the fixed medical allowance of Rs. 1,000 a month for a pensioner not covered by the health scheme, the constant attendant allowance of Rs. 8,438 a month for a 100 per cent disabled pensioner who needs an attendant, and the Central Government Health Scheme or the reimbursement of medical expenses.

Can a pension be attached by a court decree?

As a rule, no. A pension due to or received by a pensioner cannot be seized or attached in execution of a court decree, under Section 11 of the Pensions Act, 1871 and clause (g) of the proviso to Section 60(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, which exempt government pensions from attachment. A creditor cannot have a pensioner’s pension attached to satisfy an ordinary debt.

Is there any exception to the protection of a pension from attachment?

Yes. The most important exception is a maintenance decree: the courts have held that the exemption does not shield a pension against a decree for the maintenance of a spouse or child, because maintenance is not an ordinary debt. In addition, the government can recover its own defined dues from the pension and gratuity under the pension rules, and an overpayment can be recovered in defined cases. These are the limited situations in which a pension is reached.

What is the fixed medical allowance?

The fixed medical allowance is a flat Rs. 1,000 a month paid to a central government pensioner who is not covered by the Central Government Health Scheme, to meet the cost of day-to-day outdoor medical treatment. It is separate from the reimbursement of medical expenses for indoor and specified treatment, and from the constant attendant allowance paid to a severely disabled pensioner.

External references

References

Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, provisions on the additional quantum of pension from the age of 80 (20 per cent of the basic pension, rising to 100 per cent at 100) and on dearness relief on the basic and additional pension.
Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare instructions on the fixed medical allowance of Rs. 1,000 a month for a pensioner not covered by the Central Government Health Scheme, and on the constant attendant allowance of Rs. 8,438 a month with effect from 1 January 2024 (DoPPW Office Memorandum dated 18 September 2024) for a 100 per cent disabled pensioner needing a constant attendant.
Pensions Act, 1871, Section 11 (no pension granted or continued by the government on account of past services is liable to seizure, attachment, or sequestration by process of any court at the instance of a creditor for any demand against the pensioner).
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, Section 60(1), proviso, clause (g) (the stipends and gratuities allowed to pensioners of the government and political pensions are exempt from attachment in execution of a decree), and the judicial exception for a decree for the maintenance of a spouse or child.
Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, provisions confining the recovery of government dues from the pension and gratuity to defined dues, subject to the minimum pension, and barring the assignment of a pension in anticipation.
Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, Resolution F. No. 01-01/2025-E.III(A), dated 3 November 2025, constituting the 8th Central Pay Commission.