No demand certificate

The No Demand Certificate confirms a retiree owes nothing on government accommodation and releases any gratuity withheld under Rule 68(5) pending its issue.

Updated 19 October 2026

A No Demand Certificate, almost always shortened to the NDC, is the certificate confirming that a retiring central government employee has no outstanding dues in respect of government accommodation: no arrears of the licence fee and no damages for the quarter. For government General Pool residential accommodation it is issued by the Directorate of Estates, the office under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs that allots the accommodation and charges the licence fee. The NDC is the document that lets the accommodation dues be closed off at retirement, and its production is what releases the portion of the retirement gratuity held back against those dues.

The NDC exists to solve a timing problem. A retiring employee may still be living in government accommodation on the day they retire, so the final licence fee, and any damages, cannot be known until they vacate. The pension rules deal with this in two ways. Where the Directorate of Estates can work out the licence fee, Rule 68(3) and Rule 68(4) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 take the arrears and the licence fee for the permissible retention period out of the gratuity; where it cannot, Rule 68(5) withholds 10% of the gratuity pending further information. When the employee vacates and the Directorate certifies that nothing more is outstanding, the NDC is issued and any withheld amount is released, less the actual dues. The certificate is, in effect, the accommodation side of the retirement settlement.

It is worth being precise about scope from the outset. The No Demand Certificate proper is the accommodation certificate from the Directorate of Estates. Other government dues, an unrecovered advance, an overpayment, or income tax, are assessed separately by the Head of Office under the pension rules and adjusted against the gratuity directly; they are not the subject of a Directorate of Estates certificate. When a retiree or an office speaks of “the NDC,” they mean the accommodation certificate.

Each key figure is tied to the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 and the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare and Directorate of Estates instructions.

What the NDC certifies and who issues it

The No Demand Certificate certifies a negative: that the government has no demand outstanding against the retiring employee in respect of the government accommodation they occupied. Concretely, it confirms that the licence fee has been paid up to date and that there are no damages or other charges outstanding for the quarter. It is issued, for General Pool residential accommodation, by the Directorate of Estates, because that is the authority that allotted the accommodation, fixed the licence fee, and can say whether anything remains due on it.

The certificate matters because government accommodation is one of the heads of “government dues” that the pension rules allow to be recovered from the retirement gratuity. Under Rule 67 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, the dues recoverable from the gratuity are a closed list, and dues in respect of government accommodation, the licence fee and any damages, are the first branch of it. Rule 68 provides that those accommodation dues are handled through the Directorate of Estates and the No Demand Certificate. So the NDC is not an optional formality; it is the mechanism the rules specify for settling the accommodation branch of the government dues before the gratuity is finally paid.

The 10% withholding is the exception, not the rule

The 10% figure is quoted so often that it is usually taken for the default. It is not. Rule 68 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 sets out an ordinary route in which nothing is withheld as a percentage at all, and reaches the 10% only when that route fails.

In the ordinary case the amounts are known and are simply recovered. Rule 68(3) requires the Head of Office, on being told by the Directorate of Estates what licence fee is outstanding, to recover it in instalments from the current pay and allowances, and to take any balance out of the gratuity before its payment is authorised. Rule 68(4) then has the Directorate state the licence fee for the permissible period of retention beyond retirement, which the Head of Office adjusts from the gratuity along with anything left over from sub-rule (3). Both are exact adjustments of a known figure.

Rule 68(5) is the fallback, and its opening words carry the condition: “If in any particular case, it is not possible for the Directorate of Estates to determine the outstanding licence fee”. Only then does the sub-rule go on to have the Directorate inform the Head of Office that 10% of the gratuity may be withheld pending receipt of further information. The 10% is therefore an estimate used where no figure can be produced, not a standing deduction applied to every retiring allottee.

Rule 68(6) puts the responsibility for recovering the licence fee and any damages in that situation on the Directorate of Estates, and provides that the withheld amount shall be paid immediately on production of ‘No Demand Certificate’ from the Directorate of Estates after actual vacation of the accommodation.

This is the same withholding treated at length under withholding and recovery from gratuity and noted under the last pay certificate. The figure is a plain 10% of the retirement gratuity with no separate rupee cap in the rules. An employee who never occupied government accommodation, or who vacated and cleared the dues before retirement, has nothing withheld on this account.

Before retirement: the fifteen-month list and the declaration

The machinery starts more than a year out, and an employee who knows the timeline can head off most of the delay.

Rule 55(1) requires the Head of Office, immediately after preparing the list of government servants due to retire within the next fifteen months, to obtain from each one who was or is in occupation of government accommodation the complete details prescribed by the Directorate of Estates, and to send them to the Directorate at least one year before the anticipated date of retirement, for a No Demand Certificate in respect of the period preceding the last eight months of service. Where the retirement is for a reason other than superannuation, Rule 55(2) and Rule 55(3) require the details to be obtained immediately and forwarded within ten days of receipt.

There is a separate route for an employee the accommodation rules never touched. Rule 55(4) provides that a servant who is not in occupation of any residential accommodation and was never allotted any during service submits a declaration to that effect to the Head of Office one year before superannuation, and Rule 55(5) requires the same declaration immediately after approval where the retirement is of another kind. That declaration, not a No Demand Certificate, is what closes the accommodation branch for such an employee.

The deadlines that run against the Directorate

Rule 68(1) puts the Directorate of Estates on a clock, and the consequence of missing it favours the retiree.

Case	What the Directorate must do	Deadline
Retirement on superannuation	Scrutinise its records and inform the Head of Office of any licence fee recoverable for the period prior to the last eight months of service	Two months from receipt of the details under Rule 55(1)
Retirement otherwise than on superannuation	Inform the Head of Office of any licence fee recoverable up to the date of retirement	One month from receipt of the details under Rule 55(2)

Rule 68(1)(c) supplies the sanction: if no intimation regarding recovery of outstanding licence fee reaches the Head of Office by the stipulated date, it shall be presumed that no licence fee was recoverable for the period preceding the last eight months of superannuation, or up to the date of retirement in other cases. Silence from the Directorate is treated as a clean slate rather than as a reason to hold the gratuity.

For the eight months that the presumption does not cover, Rule 68(2) requires the Head of Office to recover the licence fee for the next eight months up to the date of retirement every month from the pay and allowances of the allottee, so that period is settled from salary rather than from the gratuity.

The process and the timeline

The rules and the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare instructions set a timeline designed to get the NDC ready around retirement. The Head of Office obtains the details of the accommodation from the employee at least a year before the date of superannuation and forwards them to the Directorate of Estates. The Directorate is to reply, within about two months in a superannuation case, stating the licence fee recoverable for the period up to the last eight months of service; the Head of Office recovers the licence fee for the remaining months from pay and allowances, and the balance, if any, from the gratuity. An advance No Demand Certificate is issued some months before superannuation on the strength of this, so that the bulk of the position is settled before retirement.

The final No Demand Certificate follows the vacation of the accommodation. It is to be issued within 14 days of the application for it made after the accommodation is actually vacated, under Rule 68(7)(a) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021. The trigger is the application after actual vacation, not merely the vacation date, so a retiree should apply for the certificate promptly on vacating. If the Directorate of Estates fails to issue the certificate within the 14 days, and the withheld gratuity is thereby held up, interest at the General Provident Fund rate is payable on the excess gratuity withheld, payable by the Directorate through the accounts office. The principle matches the interest on a delayed pension, but the mechanism differs: Rule 68(7) interest needs no sanction by the Secretary of the administrative Ministry or Department, which Rule 65 requires.

Retention of accommodation after retirement

The reason a No Demand Certificate is often delayed is that the retiree has not yet vacated the accommodation, and the rules do allow a retiring occupant to retain government accommodation for a limited period after retirement. Rule 40(1)(ii) of the Central Government General Pool Residential Accommodation Rules, 2017 allows six months of retention on retirement, voluntary retirement, retirement on medical grounds or technical resignation, at the normal licence fee throughout, paid in advance under rule 77. There is no escalating licence fee within those six months. Once they end, the allotment ends, the occupation is unauthorised, and the occupant owes damages instead of licence fee and is liable to eviction under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.

The interaction with the NDC is direct: the certificate can be issued only once the accommodation is vacated and the retention dues cleared, so the longer the retiree retains the accommodation, the later the No Demand Certificate, and the later the release of the withheld gratuity. A retiree who vacates within the six months obtains the certificate on application and the withheld gratuity is released. One who stays on pays damages under Directorate of Estates OM No. 18011/1/2015-Pol.III dated 7 September 2016: 40 times the licence fee in the first month for a Type I to IV house in Delhi, rising each month to a ceiling of five times that first-month figure, which the Directorate of Estates article works through for a Type II house. Those damages are recoverable from the withheld gratuity and, beyond it, under the Rule 68(8) stoppage of dearness relief.

The online process

The Directorate of Estates administers allotment, retention, and the No Demand Certificate through eSampada, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs portal launched on 25 December 2020, which merged four earlier websites, gpra.nic.in, eawas.nic.in, estates.gov.in and holidayhomes.nic.in, into one system. A retiring allottee applies for the No Demand Certificate through the portal, the licence fee position is maintained online, and the certificate is issued through the system. The move to an online process is intended to speed up the certificate and to make the licence fee position transparent, so that the accommodation dues can be settled and the withheld gratuity released without the delays that a paper process could involve. The portal handles the application after vacation that starts the 14-day clock for the certificate.

Why a delayed NDC can lead to a provisional pension

A delayed No Demand Certificate holds up any withheld gratuity and the settlement of the accommodation dues; it does not, by itself, freeze the whole pension. The pension is a separate benefit, paid monthly, and the accommodation position does not stop it. What a delayed NDC can do, together with any other loose end in the settlement, is delay the final authorisation of the pension case, and where the final Pension Payment Order cannot be issued in time, a provisional pension is sanctioned under Rule 62 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 meanwhile, which is the interim pension also known as an anticipatory pension. The pension sanction process and its timeline is built to avoid this, but an unvacated quarter and a pending NDC are among the commonest reasons a settlement runs late.

The precise effect is therefore worth stating carefully: the NDC governs the withheld gratuity slice and the accommodation dues, and its delay is felt there and, at one remove, in the timing of the final settlement. The pension itself is not stopped for want of a certificate. When the NDC is produced, the withheld amount is released, with GPF-rate interest if the Directorate breached the 14-day limit, and the accommodation branch of the settlement is closed.

The dearness relief can be stopped

There is one route by which unpaid accommodation dues do reach the monthly payment, and it is the sharpest provision in the rule. Rule 68(8) applies where an amount remains unpaid after adjustment from the withheld gratuity, or where no gratuity was withheld at all. In that case the Directorate of Estates may order the amount to be recovered through the Account Officer from the dearness relief, without the consent of the pensioner, and no dearness relief shall be disbursed until full recovery of such dues has been made.

The heads it reaches are wider than licence fee alone. Rule 68(8) names licence fee, damages for overstay, unauthorised occupation, subletting or transfer to an ineligible office, and dues on account of electricity, water or piped natural gas charges. The Explanation to Rule 68 adds that licence fee for the purposes of the rule includes any other charges payable by the allottee for damage or loss caused by him to the accommodation or its fittings.

The distinction that matters is between the basic pension and the dearness relief on it. The basic pension continues. The dearness relief, which at a rate of 60% is a substantial share of what a pensioner actually draws each month, can be withheld in its entirety until the dues are cleared. A retiree who treats an unvacated quarter as a problem only for the withheld gratuity is reading the rule too narrowly.

Dues other than accommodation

The No Demand Certificate is specific to accommodation, and it is important not to read it as covering every government due. Dues other than accommodation, an outstanding house building or other advance, an overpayment of pay, allowances or leave salary, or income tax deductible at source, are assessed by the Head of Office under Rule 69 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 and adjusted against the gratuity directly. There is no Directorate of Estates certificate for these; they are an internal assessment by the office that drew the employee’s pay, settled as part of the pension papers.

So the settlement of government dues at retirement runs on two tracks: the accommodation dues, closed by the No Demand Certificate from the Directorate of Estates against any withheld gratuity; and the other dues, assessed and adjusted by the Head of Office under Rule 69. Both are confined to the closed list of government dues in Rule 67, so nothing outside that list can be recovered from the gratuity, but only the accommodation branch turns on a No Demand Certificate. Keeping the two apart avoids the common confusion that a single certificate clears all dues.

Across the schemes and the 8th Central Pay Commission

The No Demand Certificate concerns government accommodation and the retirement gratuity, which apply across the pension schemes: an employee on the Old Pension Scheme, the National Pension System, or the Unified Pension Scheme who occupied government accommodation clears it through the same certificate, because the accommodation dues and the gratuity are the same in each case. The certificate is a settlement-stage document about accommodation, not about the pension mechanism, so the scheme does not change it.

The 8th Central Pay Commission, constituted in November 2025, is examining pay and retirement benefits, so the gratuity an NDC releases would change once revised figures are notified. The licence fee is not a Pay Commission matter: rule 74 of the Central Government General Pool Residential Accommodation Rules, 2017 revises it every three years on the All India Consumer Price Index, most recently from 1 July 2026 by Directorate of Estates OM No. 18011/2/2015-Pol.III dated 17 July 2026. The structure, the exact adjustment under Rule 68(3) and Rule 68(4) with the 10% fallback under Rule 68(5), the certificate from the Directorate of Estates, and the 14-day timeline, is set by the pension rules and the accommodation rules 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

The No Demand Certificate (NDC) confirms that a retiring central government employee has no outstanding dues on government accommodation, and for General Pool accommodation it is issued by the Directorate of Estates. Where the Directorate cannot determine the outstanding licence fee, 10% of the retirement gratuity is withheld under Rule 68(5) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 and released on production of the NDC, less any actual dues. The certificate is to be issued within 14 days of the application made after the accommodation is vacated (Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Office Memorandum dated 20 October 2023), with interest at the GPF rate if the Directorate delays. A retiree may retain the accommodation for six months on normal licence fee under rule 40(1)(ii) of the Central Government General Pool Residential Accommodation Rules, 2017, after which the occupation is unauthorised and damages apply. The NDC governs the withheld gratuity slice and the accommodation dues, not the whole pension; other dues are assessed by the Head of Office under Rule 69.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a No Demand Certificate?

A No Demand Certificate, or NDC, is a certificate confirming that a retiring central government employee has no outstanding dues in respect of government accommodation, meaning no arrears of licence fee and no damages for the accommodation. For General Pool residential accommodation it is issued by the Directorate of Estates. It is required at retirement so that the accommodation dues can be settled and the portion of the retirement gratuity withheld against them can be released.

How much gratuity is withheld pending the No Demand Certificate?

10% of the retirement gratuity, and only where the Directorate of Estates cannot determine the outstanding licence fee: Rule 68(5) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 then lets the Directorate tell the Head of Office to withhold 10% pending further information. Where the licence fee is known, Rule 68(3) and Rule 68(4) adjust the actual arrears and the licence fee for the permissible retention period from the gratuity, and nothing more is withheld. Any amount withheld is released on production of the No Demand Certificate under Rule 68(6), less the actual accommodation dues under Rule 63(3).

Who issues the No Demand Certificate?

For government General Pool residential accommodation, the No Demand Certificate is issued by the Directorate of Estates under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, which allots the accommodation and charges the licence fee. The certificate is to be issued within 14 days of the application for it after the accommodation is vacated; if the Directorate delays beyond that, interest at the General Provident Fund rate is payable on the excess gratuity withheld.

Why does a missing No Demand Certificate delay my gratuity?

Because the amount withheld against possible accommodation dues, whether an exact figure adjusted under Rule 68(3) and Rule 68(4) or the 10% fallback under Rule 68(5), is released under Rule 68(6) only on production of the certificate after actual vacation of the accommodation. An occupant who has not vacated cannot obtain the certificate, so the withheld amount stays withheld. The basic pension is not stopped, but Rule 68(8) allows unpaid dues to be recovered from the dearness relief without the pensioner’s consent, with no dearness relief disbursed until recovery is complete.

How long does a No Demand Certificate take to issue?

The No Demand Certificate is to be issued within 14 days of the application made for it after the accommodation is actually vacated, under Rule 68(7)(a) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021. The trigger is the application after vacation, not merely the vacation date, so a retiree should apply promptly on vacating. If the Directorate of Estates fails to issue it within the 14 days, interest is payable on the excess gratuity withheld.

Is the withheld gratuity released with interest?

It is released without interest where the certificate issues within the 14-day limit. Where the Directorate of Estates delays the No Demand Certificate beyond the 14 days of the application made after vacation, and the withheld gratuity is thereby held up, interest at the General Provident Fund rate is payable on the excess gratuity withheld, payable by the Directorate through the accounts office. This interest arises under Rule 68(7) itself and, unlike interest on a delayed pension under Rule 65, needs no sanction by the Secretary of the administrative Ministry or Department.

When is 10% of the gratuity actually withheld?

Only where the amount cannot be worked out. Rule 68(5) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 opens with the condition that if in any particular case it is not possible for the Directorate of Estates to determine the outstanding licence fee, the Directorate shall inform the Head of Office that 10% of the gratuity may be withheld pending receipt of further information. In the ordinary case Rule 68(3) and Rule 68(4) have the known licence fee recovered from pay and allowances and adjusted from the gratuity exactly, with no percentage withheld.

What happens if the Directorate of Estates does not reply in time?

The retiree gets the benefit of the silence. Rule 68(1)(a) gives the Directorate two months to inform the Head of Office of any licence fee recoverable in a superannuation case, and Rule 68(1)(b) one month in any other case. Rule 68(1)(c) then provides that if no intimation is received by the stipulated date, it shall be presumed that no licence fee was recoverable for the period preceding the last eight months of superannuation, or up to the date of retirement in other cases.

Can dearness relief be stopped over accommodation dues?

Yes. Rule 68(8) provides that where an amount remains unpaid after adjustment from the withheld gratuity, or where no gratuity was withheld, the Directorate of Estates may order it recovered through the Account Officer from the dearness relief without the consent of the pensioner, and that no dearness relief shall be disbursed until full recovery. It reaches licence fee, damages for overstay, unauthorised occupation, subletting or transfer to an ineligible office, and electricity, water or piped natural gas charges.

What if I never occupied government accommodation?

A declaration replaces the certificate. Rule 55(4) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 requires a government servant who is not in occupation of any residential accommodation and was never allotted any during service to submit a declaration to that effect to the Head of Office one year before retirement on superannuation, and Rule 55(5) requires the same declaration immediately after approval where the retirement is of another kind. No No Demand Certificate is needed and nothing is withheld on this account.

External references

References

Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 67 (the closed list of government dues, with dues in respect of government accommodation as the first branch), Rule 68 (recovery and adjustment of accommodation dues through the Directorate of Estates and the No Demand Certificate, and the withholding of 10% of the retirement gratuity under Rule 68(5) where the licence fee cannot be determined), and Rule 69 (other dues assessed by the Head of Office).
Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Office Memorandum No. 28/91/2022-P&PW(B), dated 20 October 2023, on the procedure for the adjustment and recovery of government dues from the retirement gratuity, the No Demand Certificate to be issued within 14 days of the application made after the accommodation is vacated, and interest at the General Provident Fund rate where the Directorate of Estates delays.
Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Office Memorandum on the timelines for the completion of the pension and gratuity activities (2024), reiterating the No Demand Certificate timeline and the obtaining of accommodation details about a year before superannuation.
Central Government General Pool Residential Accommodation Rules, 2017 (G.S.R. 598(E), 16 June 2017), rules 40 and 74; Directorate of Estates OM No. 18011/1/2015-Pol.III dated 7 September 2016 on damages.
Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 62 (provisional pension where the final pension cannot be sanctioned by the date of retirement) and Rule 65 (interest on a pension or gratuity delayed for administrative reasons).
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.
Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 55: sub-rule (1), the list of servants retiring within the next fifteen months and the despatch of accommodation details to the Directorate of Estates at least one year before retirement for a certificate covering the period preceding the last eight months; sub-rules (2) and (3), the ten day timeline in a non-superannuation case; and sub-rules (4) and (5), the declaration by a servant never allotted residential accommodation.
Ibid., Rule 68: sub-rule (1)(a) and (b), the two month and one month deadlines on the Directorate of Estates; sub-rule (1)(c), the presumption that no licence fee was recoverable where no intimation is received by the stipulated date; sub-rule (2), monthly recovery of the licence fee for the last eight months from pay and allowances; sub-rules (3) and (4), exact recovery and adjustment of the known licence fee including the retention period; sub-rule (5), the 10% withholding only where the Directorate cannot determine the outstanding licence fee; sub-rule (6), payment of the withheld amount immediately on production of the certificate after actual vacation; sub-rule (7), the fourteen day limit and interest at the General Provident Fund rate; sub-rule (8), recovery from dearness relief without the pensioner’s consent with no dearness relief disbursed until full recovery; and the Explanation, extending licence fee to charges for damage or loss to the accommodation or its fittings.