Defence ministry extends date for pensioners to complete personal records to June 25

Chandigarh, May 26

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has extended the date for defence pensioners to complete the process of submitting their annual life certificate to June 25. The earlier deadline was May 25.

Non-updation of records by many pensioners in time had resulted in the pension of several thousand ex-servicemen across all ranks not being credited to their bank accounts earlier this month.

“Upon verification of data received till May 25, 2022, it has been noticed that 34,636 pensioners who have been migrated to the System for Pension Administration – Rakshasa (SPARSH) have not completed their annual identification,” the MoD said in a statement issued today. Till May 17, the number of pensioners whose documents were pending since November 2021 was 43,774.

The process of annual identification and life certification is a statutory requirement for continued and timely credit of pension. There are several specified online and offline modes for submitting and verifying identification and life certificate.

However, the pension for April 2022 was credited through a special one-time waiver for 58,275 Pensioners out of 4.47 lakh pensioners on SPARSH, as their annual identification details could not be verified by their respective banks by month-closing.