The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has extended the timeline for completing annual identification/life certification by those defence pensioners who are yet to complete the exercise, until June 25.
“The process of annual identification/life certification is a statutory requirement for continued and timely credit of monthly pension. In the absence of annual identification/life certification, the initial waiver was given till 25 May 2022 and the same has now been extended by MoD till June 25,” a statement from the MoD said on Thursday.
Upon verification of data received as of May 25, 2022, it was noticed that 34,636 Pensioners who have been migrated to the new System for Pension Administration (Raksha) (SPARSH) had not completed their annual identification – neither online nor through their respective banks by November 2021, the statement said.
The April 2022 monthly pension was credited through a special one-time waiver for 58,275 Pensioners, out of 4.47 lakh Migrated Pensioners on SPARSH, as their annual identification details could not be verified by their respective banks by month-closing.
The MoD has recently introduced a new portal called SPARSH to directly transfer pension to defence pensioners.