Head of Office

The Head of Office is a Gazetted Officer of a central government civil office who has been declared Head of Office by a Department, an Administrator or a Head of Department under Rule 12(4) of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 2024. The officer holds the establishment’s service books and draws its pay as its Drawing and Disbursing Officer. The Head of Office also prepares every pension case and sanctions provisional pension when the final one is late.

The 2024 Rules were notified as S.O. 1543(E) dated 22 March 2024 and came into force on 1 April 2024. Rule 3(h) defines the Head of Office as “a Gazetted Officer designated as such, subordinate to Administrators and Heads of Departments”. Before 1 April 2024 the declaration power sat in Rule 14 of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978. The concordance table printed with the 2024 Rules marks that rule “Deleted”, and Rule 21(1) repealed the 1978 Rules while keeping earlier declarations operative.

The office matters to an employee because the Head of Office, not the Pay and Accounts Office, holds the employee’s service record. The service book, the leave account of a non-gazetted servant, the GPF advance and the verification of qualifying service all pass through the Head of Office. The CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 name the Head of Office as the actor in Rules 30, 46, 50, 54 to 62, 66 to 69 and 71 to 77, among others, from the first verification of service to the last recovery from gratuity.

The body below covers who may be declared and by whom, how the office differs from a Head of Department and a DDO, and the financial powers the office holds after the 2024 Rules. It then covers service records, the GPF, the pension case with a dated worked timeline, provisional pension, death-in-service cases, recovery of dues, the appointing and disciplinary role under the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965, the National Pension System and Unified Pension Scheme rules, and the current instruments that still cite the repealed 1978 Rules.

Declaration under Rule 12(4) of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 2024

A Department of the Government of India, an Administrator, or a Head of Department declares a Head of Office, and may choose any Gazetted Officer subordinate to it. Rule 12(4) of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 2024 gives these three authorities “the power to declare any Gazetted Officer subordinate to them as the Head of the Office for the purpose of these rules”.

Two provisos follow. The first limits the office’s powers to those “delegated by the Department, Administrator or Head of Department and as provided in the rules for the time being in force”. The second allows only one Head of Office for the same office or establishment, “unless such office or establishment is distinctly separate from one another”. A regional office with its own establishment and a headquarters office can each have a Head of Office. Two officers in one establishment cannot both hold the post.

The rule sets no rank. Rule 3(h) requires only that the officer be Gazetted (see gazetted and non-gazetted posts) and subordinate to an Administrator or Head of Department. The Head of Department is treated differently: Rule 3(g) requires a Head of Department to be “not below the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India and equivalent”. A Group A or a Group B Gazetted officer can therefore be declared.

Rule 21(2) excludes five sets of authorities from the 2024 Rules: the Ministry of Railways and its subordinate authorities; the Ministry of Defence and its subordinate authorities for expenditure debitable to the Defence Services Estimates; the Departments of Atomic Energy and Space; the Department of Telecommunications; and the Government of India’s representatives abroad. The Rule 12(4) declaration does not reach those offices.

Declarations made under the 1978 Rules

A Head of Office declared before 1 April 2024 under Rule 14 of the 1978 Rules continues in office unless the declaration is specifically cancelled or revoked. The proviso to Rule 21(1) of the 2024 Rules says “all sanctions, orders, declarations or other action taken before the commencement of these rules shall continue to be operative”, unless specifically cancelled or revoked by the authority that made them. No fresh declaration is needed for an officer already in post. A change of incumbent after 1 April 2024 is made under Rule 12(4).

Head of Office, Head of Department and Drawing and Disbursing Officer

Every Head of Office is a Drawing and Disbursing Officer, but a Head of Department is a separate and senior declaration under the same Rules. Rule 2(s) of the Receipts and Payments Rules, 2022 (G.S.R. 644(E) dated 20 August 2022) defines the DDO as “a Head of office and also any other Gazetted officer so designated” to draw bills and make payments. Rule 2(xii) of the General Financial Rules, 2017 repeats the definition.

Where a Head of Department has declared the Head of Office, it is also the authority above the office for the powers the Rules keep at Head of Department level: GPF withdrawals, the imprest and the monthly retirement list. Where a Head of Office is also declared Head of Department, both sets of powers sit with one officer, and the CCS (CCA) Schedule then sends an appeal against that officer’s penalty to the Secretary.

A DDO who is not the Head of Office draws bills but does not take over the Head of Office’s duties under the pension, leave or GPF rules. Sub-instruction 1.4(1)(k) of the Subsidiary Instructions to the Receipts and Payments Rules, 2022 allows the duties “imposed on the Head of Office, as amended in General Financial Rules” to be entrusted to a nominated subordinate gazetted officer. The sub-instruction refers to the duties in the General Financial Rules; the service book, leave and pension rules assign their duties to the Head of Office by name.

Financial powers after the 2024 Rules

The Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 2024 give the Head of Office no rupee limit of its own; the limits come from the delegation order of the Department, Administrator or Head of Department. The 1978 Rules carried Schedules I to VII, which set out powers by authority, and the concordance table printed in the Department of Expenditure booklet of the 2024 Rules marks “Schedule I to VII” as “Deleted”. The powers move down by order.

Rule 12(2) lets a Department confer powers not exceeding its own on an Administrator, a Head of Department “or any other authority subordinate to the Department”, in consultation with the Internal Financial Adviser. Three powers cannot be re-delegated at all: re-appropriation of funds (Rule 10), waiver of recovery of overpayment to government servants (Rule 15), and appraisal and approval of schemes or projects (Rule 16). Rule 12(3) lets an Administrator or Head of Department authorise “a Gazetted Officer serving under him” to exercise any of its own powers to a specified extent. It adds that the Administrator or Head of Department “shall, however, continue to be responsible for the correctness, regularity and propriety of the decisions taken by the Gazetted Officer so authorised”. Rule 12(3) is one route by which a Head of Department’s powers reach a Head of Office; a delegation order under the first proviso to Rule 12(4) is the other.

Write-off powers stop one level higher. Government of India Decision (1) below Rule 13, with Department of Expenditure OM No. 01(14)/2016-E.II(A)(Part-III) dated 1 April 2024, names the Head of Department as the delegate for write-off of irrecoverable losses of stores or public money, and caps that delegation at 10% of the Department’s own power. The Department’s own limits in the table under Rule 13 are Rs. 5,00,000 for a loss caused by theft, fraud or negligence and Rs. 50,00,000 in other cases. The decision does not mention the Head of Office.

Powers the other rules give directly

Some powers reach the Head of Office through rules other than the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules:

Rule 323(1) caps a contingent advance at the power delegated to the Head of Office for the purpose, but the 2024 Rules no longer set that power themselves. Under the first proviso to Rule 12(4), the figure is the one in the delegation order of the Department, Administrator or Head of Department.

The imprest is not among these powers. Rule 322 of the General Financial Rules, 2017 has the permanent advance granted “by the Head of the Department in consultation with Internal Finance Wing”. The Head of Office holds the cash book: Rule 20 of the Receipts and Payments Rules, 2022 requires “all Government officers (referred to in this rule as the Head of the Office)” to maintain a cash book for all monetary transactions, and sub-instruction 1.4(1)(h) directs the Head of the Office to verify the cash balance at the end of each month.

Service book, leave account and pay fixation

The Head of Office keeps the service book of every non-gazetted servant in the office, attests its entries and shows it to the servant every year. Supplementary Rule 198 requires the service book to be maintained from the date of first appointment and to be “kept in the custody of the Head of the Office in which he is serving and transferred with him from office to office”. SR 199 requires every step in the servant’s official life to be recorded and each entry attested by the Head of the Office, or, if the servant is a Head of Office, by the immediate superior.

SR 202 makes it “the duty of every Head of Office to initiate action to show the Service Books to the Government servants” under their control every year and to obtain their signatures. The Head of Office then certifies to the next superior officer, by the end of every September, that this was done for the preceding financial year. Under the same rule the servant, before signing, is to ensure that the service has been duly verified and certified.

Rule 288(1) of the General Financial Rules, 2017 adds that service books “should be verified every year by the Head of Office”. Rule 288(2) provides for two copies: the first “copy shall be retained and maintained by the Head of the Office” and the second goes to the servant for safe custody. Rule 288(5) says “All Service Books should be digitised”. The Department of Personnel and Training OM e-F.No. Z-20025/02/2023-Estt.(AL) dated 17 June 2025 went further for Ministries on e-HRMS: it requests them to maintain e-Service Books on e-HRMS 2.0 only and phase out physical service books, after ensuring the completeness and accuracy of the data in the e-Service Books, which it says will be treated as legally tenable for all purposes.

Leave account

Rule 15 of the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 requires a leave account in Form 2 for each servant. For non-gazetted servants the Head of Office, or an officer the Head of Office authorises, maintains it; for Gazetted servants the Audit Officer does. The Note to Rule 15 moves a Gazetted servant’s account to the Head of Office where that officer draws and disburses the Gazetted servant’s pay. Rule 16 bars sanction of leave until the authority maintaining the account has reported on its admissibility, which for a non-gazetted servant, and for a Gazetted servant whose pay the Head of Office draws, is the Head of Office.

Pay fixation and entitlements

Paragraph 2.16.3.1 of the Civil Accounts Manual, 2024 records that from 1 April 1976 the distinction between gazetted and non-gazetted staff for service records, determination of entitlements including pay fixation, and drawal of entitlements was dispensed with, and “Heads of Offices have been made responsible for these”. The authority is OM No. F.10(9)-B(TR)/76 dated 28 February 1976 and OM No. F-3(1)E.IV-(A)/76 dated 17 March 1976. The same paragraph says the pay fixing authority need not consult the Pay and Accounts Office on a normal case. A pay fixation on promotion, on the annual increment date or under the financial upgradation schemes is worked out and ordered in the office, and paragraph 2.16.3.2 provides for the order to be audited by the internal audit or the Pay and Accounts Office within three months of issue.

General Provident Fund advances

The Head of Office sanctions a GPF advance, and the Head of Department sanctions a GPF withdrawal. G.S.R. 141 dated 22 September 2022, published in the Gazette of India on 8 October 2022 under F. No. 3/2/2017-P&PW(F), substituted Rule 12(1) of the GPF (Central Services) Rules, 1960. The substituted rule says “The Head of Office may sanction the payment to any subscriber of an advance” not exceeding twelve months’ pay or three-fourths of the amount at credit, whichever is less, for the purposes it lists.

Three provisions sit around it. Rule 12(1A) lets the Head of Department sanction an advance in special circumstances for a purpose outside the list. Rule 12(1B) requires an advance to be sanctioned and paid not later than fifteen days from the application. Rule 15(1), as amended by the same notification, says withdrawals “may be sanctioned by the Head of the Department”. The DoPPW consolidated OM No. 21/05/2023-P&PW(F) dated 20 October 2023 states the same division: the advance “may be sanctioned by the declared Head of Office”.

The notification also inserted Rule 2(1)(db), which defines the Head of Office as a Gazetted Officer declared under Rule 14 of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978. That definition was written eighteen months before the 1978 Rules were repealed and still cites them.

The pension case under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021

The Head of Office prepares the pension case of every retiring servant in the office, starting one year before superannuation and sending it to the Accounts Officer four months before. Rule 56 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 requires every Head of Office to “undertake the preparatory work for processing of pension case one year before the date on which a Government servant is due to retire on superannuation, or on the date on which he proceeds on leave preparatory to retirement, whichever is earlier”. The case runs on the Bhavishya portal under Rule 53 unless the office is exempted.

The first stage under Rule 57(1)(a) is verification. The Head of Office reads the service book and verifies unverified periods from pay bills, acquittance rolls, the last pay certificate and the April pay slip. For a period spent in another office, the current Head of Office refers it to the Head of Office there, who must reply within two months; under sub-clause (v), if no reply arrives in that time, the period is deemed to qualify. Service that still cannot be verified is admitted on a written statement from the servant under sub-clauses (viii) and (ix). Sub-clause (x) treats wilfully incorrect information in that statement as grave misconduct.

The second stage checks the emoluments of the last ten months, and sub-clause (v) of Rule 57(1)(b) limits the check of emoluments to the 24 months before retirement. The third stage, under Rule 57(1)(c), gives the servant the certificate of qualifying service and emoluments and two months to dispute it with documents.

G.S.R. 410(E) dated 16 July 2024 amended Rules 53, 57, 58, 59 and 60 of the Rules as notified to introduce the single pension application, Form 6-A, from 16 November 2024, replacing nine separate forms and formats. The servant files Form 6-A online not later than six months before retirement under Rule 57(2)(a). The Head of Office’s deadlines in Rules 56, 59(1) and 60(4) remain one year and four months before superannuation. Paragraph 7.4.1.2 of the Civil Accounts Manual, 2024 states that “The HOO is responsible for correctness of all pension documents being forwarded to” the Pay and Accounts Office.

Worked timeline: superannuation on 31 March 2028

The table below is a salary-calculator.in construction from the rule deadlines above, for a Group C servant retiring on superannuation on 31 March 2028 who has not taken leave preparatory to retirement. Each “months before” date is counted back in calendar months to the last day of the month.

The list date works from the fifteen-month window in Rule 54(1). A list prepared by 15 December 2026 covers retirements up to 15 March 2028 and misses 31 March 2028; the list prepared by 15 January 2027 covers retirements up to 15 April 2028 and is the first to include it.

Provisional pension and provisional gratuity

Where the pension case cannot be settled before retirement for reasons other than departmental or judicial proceedings, the Head of Office itself sanctions and draws a provisional pension and provisional gratuity. Rule 62(1) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 applies when the Head of Office cannot forward the case within the Rule 60(4) period despite following Rule 57, or the Accounts Officer returns the case for more information. The Head of Office then relies on official records and determines the provisional amounts.

Rule 62(3) sets the sanction: 100% of pension as provisional pension from the day after retirement, and 100% of gratuity as provisional gratuity with 10% withheld. The Head of Office draws both “in the same manner as pay and allowances of the establishment are drawn by him”. Rule 62(4) requires the sanction within ten days of retirement on superannuation, and within one month of the forms in other cases. Rule 30(2) of the Receipts and Payments Rules, 2022 requires the provisional pension to be “preferred by the Head of Office in which the Government servant was” last employed, and Rule 32(3) requires provisional gratuity to be drawn separately for each gratuitant by the Head of the office in which the servant last served.

Provisional payment ends at six months under Rule 62(6)(a), counted from retirement or from submission of the forms, whichever is later. If the final figures are not settled by then, Rule 62(7) makes the Accounts Officer treat the provisional figures as final and issue the Pension Payment Order. Rule 62(6)(c) protects the retiree: an excess of provisional gratuity actually paid is not refunded, and the officials responsible for the excess are accountable. Rule 62(10) says “It shall be the responsibility of the Head of Office to ensure” that provisional pension and gratuity are sanctioned wherever the Pension Payment Order is delayed. The pension that follows a late case is covered in provisional pension, anticipatory pension and interest on delayed pension.

Provisional pension for a retiree facing departmental or judicial proceedings is a different rule. Rule 8(4)(a) has the Accounts Officer authorise it, at the maximum pension on qualifying service, and Rule 8(4)(c) withholds gratuity until the proceedings end.

Death in service and family pension

When a servant dies in service, the Head of Office starts the family’s claim without waiting for an application. Rule 71(1) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 requires the Head of Office, on receiving information of the death, to ascertain whether death gratuity or family pension is payable. Rule 71(2) and (3) require letters to the nominees or the eligible family member for claims in Form 9 and Form 10. Rule 71(4)(c) requires the Head of Office to address the Directorate of Estates within seven days of receiving the intimation or information of the death, for a No Demand Certificate.

Rule 75(3) runs provisional family pension for six months from the day after the death unless extended. Rule 74(4)(c) limits the gratuity the Head of Office may hold over for dues not yet assessed to 10%. Rule 74(2) bars rejection of a family member’s claim only because the member is missing from Form 4 or the office records, where the Head of Office is otherwise satisfied of eligibility.

The records that make those claims quick are kept by the same officer. Rule 50(15)(a) requires each servant to give family details in Form 4 to the Head of Office on entering service, and clause (d) requires the Head of Office to acknowledge the form and paste it in the service book. Rule 46(9) sends every gratuity nomination to the Head of Office, who verifies and countersigns it and records its receipt in the service book; the proviso allows subordinate Gazetted officers to be authorised to countersign nominations of non-gazetted servants. Under Rule 46(10) a nomination takes effect from the date the Head of Office receives it. Those rules are covered in nomination for pension and gratuity and in the articles on family pension to a divorced or widowed daughter and family pension to dependent parents.

Recovery of government dues and overpaid pension

The Head of Office assesses every government due of a retiring servant and has it adjusted against the retirement gratuity; nothing outside the two classes in Rule 67 can be taken from gratuity. Rule 67(1) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 makes it “the duty of the Head of Office to ascertain and assess Government dues”. The Explanation to Rule 67(2) defines them:

• accommodation dues: arrears of licence fee, damages for occupation beyond the permissible period, subletting or unauthorised occupation, and electricity, water and PNG charges;
• other dues: the balance of a house building advance, conveyance or other advance, overpayment of pay and allowances or leave salary, and arrears of income tax deductible at source.

Rule 67(3) bars recovery from gratuity of any due outside these two classes. Rule 68 splits the accommodation dues: the Head of Office recovers the licence fee for the last eight months from monthly pay under Rule 68(2), and recovers any arrears the Directorate of Estates reports from pay or, failing that, from gratuity under Rule 68(3). Where the Directorate cannot determine the dues, Rule 68(5) lets it ask for 10% of gratuity to be withheld, and Rule 68(6) makes the Directorate, not the Head of Office, responsible for recovering damages. The gratuity limb is covered in withholding and recovery from gratuity and no demand certificate.

The Head of Office also serves the notice when a pension is revised downward. Under Rule 66(5), where the administrative Ministry decides not to waive an excess payment of pension found on revision, the retiree “shall be served with a notice by the Head of Office requiring him to refund the excess payment of pension within a period of two months”. Rule 66(6) then lets the Head of Office order recovery by short payments of future pension, in one or more instalments, if the retiree does not pay. The decision on waiver itself sits with the Ministry in consultation with the Department of Expenditure under Rule 66(4), and is covered in recovery of overpayment from pension.

Paragraph 10.8.1 of the Civil Accounts Manual, 2024 adds that “the Heads of Offices are responsible for the recovery of advances” granted under Rule 12 of the Compendium of Rules on Advances, and paragraph 2.16.17(iii) places the calculation of interest on interest-bearing advances with the head of office or DDO.

Appointing and disciplinary authority for Group C posts

For Group C posts in a non-Secretariat office, the Head of Office is the appointing authority and may impose every penalty in Rule 11 of the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965. Rule 2(j) of those Rules defines the “head of the office”, for appointing, disciplinary, appellate or reviewing powers, as “the authority declared to be the head of the office under the General Financial Rules”. Rule 2(xviii) of the General Financial Rules, 2017 in turn defines the Head of Office as a Gazetted Officer declared as such in the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, or any other authority declared by general or special order.

The Schedule to the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 (DoPT compilation to 15 October 2018) makes these entries:

A Head of Office acting as disciplinary authority runs the enquiry under Rule 14 or the minor penalty procedure under Rule 16, and the appeal under Part VII of the Rules goes to the authority in the last column (see appeal, review and revision). Serial 4(ii) applies only to posts “other than posts in respect of which specific provision has been made by a general or special order of the President”, so a post covered by such an order has the appointing authority that order names.

Employees under the National Pension System and the Unified Pension Scheme

The Head of Office performs the same record and processing duties for employees under the National Pension System and the Unified Pension Scheme, under separate rules. Rule 21 of the CCS (Payment of Gratuity under National Pension System) Rules, 2021 (G.S.R. 658(E) dated 23 September 2021) repeats the periodic verification: after eighteen years of service and five years before superannuation, “the Head of Office in consultation with Accounts Officer shall” verify service and communicate the qualifying service in Form 1. The gratuity itself is covered in gratuity under the NPS rules, 2021.

The Central Civil Services (Implementation of the Unified Pension Scheme under the National Pension System) Rules, 2025, notified as G.S.R. 599(E) dated 2 September 2025, carry their own definition in Rule 3(1)(p): “Head of Office” means an Officer as defined in the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 2024, and includes any other officer the government specifies by order. The definition in Rule 3(1)(q) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 still cites Rule 14 of the 1978 Rules.

Cross-references still pointing at the 1978 Rules

Two current rule sets define the Head of Office through Rule 14 of the repealed Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978, not through Rule 12(4) of the 2024 Rules.

The same notification of 22 September 2022 inserted GPF Rule 2(1)(da), which defines the Head of Department by reference to Schedule I of the 1978 Rules. The Civil Accounts Manual, 2024 also still cites the 1978 Rules in several paragraphs, including paragraph 2.1.2 on communicating sanctions to the Pay and Accounts Office (“Rule 25 of DFPR-1978”), paragraph 2.8.1 on re-appropriation orders and paragraph 18.3.9.3.

Two provisions soften the gap. The proviso to Rule 21(1) of the 2024 Rules keeps declarations made under the 1978 Rules operative, and both definitions also include any other authority or person the competent authority specifies by order as Head of Office. A declaration made after 1 April 2024 is made under Rule 12(4) of the 2024 Rules, and that is the provision to cite for who declares a Head of Office today.

Related Articles

• Drawing and Disbursing Officer
• Head of Department
• Delegation of Financial Powers Rules
• General Financial Rules
• Receipts and Payments Rules
• Civil Accounts Manual
• Pay and Accounts Office
• Controller General of Accounts
• Supplementary Rules
• Fundamental Rules
• Service book
• e-HRMS
• Gazetted and non-gazetted posts
• CCS (Leave) Rules
• Pay fixation
• General Provident Fund
• CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021
• Pension sanction process and timeline
• Bhavishya portal
• Qualifying service
• Last pay certificate
• Transfer of charge
• Provisional pension
• Anticipatory pension
• Interest on delayed pension
• PPO and the annual life certificate
• Central Pension Accounting Office
• Death gratuity
• Family pension
• Nomination for pension and gratuity
• Withholding and recovery from gratuity
• No demand certificate
• Directorate of Estates
• Recovery of overpayment from pension
• CCS (CCA) Rules
• Disciplinary authority
• Appointing authority
• Minor penalty
• Gratuity under the NPS rules, 2021
• Unified Pension Scheme

External references

• Department of Expenditure: Delegation of Financial Powers Rules and circulars
• Department of Personnel and Training
• Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare
• Controller General of Accounts: Civil Accounts Manual
• Central Pension Accounting Office
• Pensioners’ Portal
• e-Gazette of India

References

1. Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 2024, S.O. 1543(E) dated 22 March 2024, in force 1 April 2024, Rules 3(g), 3(h), 12, 13 and 21, with the Department of Expenditure booklet and concordance table.
2. Department of Expenditure OM No. 01(14)/2016-E.II(A)(Part-III) dated 1 April 2024, on write-off by subordinate authorities.
3. General Financial Rules, 2017, compilation to 31 January 2026, Rules 2(xii), 2(xviii), 29, 288, 307, 322 and 323 (Rule 323 as amended by DoE OM No. 14(37)/2015-E.II.A dated 12 July 2024).
4. Receipts and Payments Rules, 2022, G.S.R. 644(E) dated 20 August 2022, Rules 2(s), 20, 30 and 32, and Subsidiary Instructions 1.4 and 2.13.
5. Supplementary Rules 197 to 203; CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, Rules 15 and 16.
6. GPF (Central Services) Amendment Rules, 2022, G.S.R. 141 dated 22 September 2022, F. No. 3/2/2017-P&PW(F); DoPPW OM No. 21/05/2023-P&PW(F) dated 20 October 2023.
7. CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, G.S.R. 868(E) dated 20 December 2021, Rules 3(1)(q), 8, 30, 46, 50, 53 to 62, 66 to 69, 71, 74 and 75; amended by G.S.R. 410(E) dated 16 July 2024.
8. CCS (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965, Rule 2(j) and the Schedule, Parts III and IV (DoPT compilation to 15 October 2018).
9. Civil Accounts Manual, Revised Fourth Edition, 2024 (Controller General of Accounts), paragraphs 2.1.2, 2.16.3.1, 2.16.17, 7.4.1.2 and 10.8.1; DoPT OM e-F.No. Z-20025/02/2023-Estt.(AL) dated 17 June 2025 on e-Service Books.
10. CCS (Payment of Gratuity under National Pension System) Rules, 2021, G.S.R. 658(E) dated 23 September 2021, Rule 21; CCS (Implementation of the Unified Pension Scheme under the National Pension System) Rules, 2025, G.S.R. 599(E) dated 2 September 2025, Rule 3(1)(p).