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PLD 2021 Balochistan Statutes 339 PLD 2021 Balochistan Statutes 339 BALOCHISTAN GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES BENEVOLENT FUND (DISBURSEMENT) RULES, 2020 [Gazette of Balochistan Extraordinary, 8th September, 2020] NO. S&GAD(B.F)6-1 / 2020 / 695-795, dated 8.9.2020.--- In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 17 of the Balochistan Government Employees Benevolent Fund Act, 2018 (Balochistan Act No. XV of 2018), the Government of Balochistan is pleased to make the following Rules, namely:- 1. Short title and Commencement.---(1) These Rules may be called the Balochistan Government Employees Benevolent Fund (Disbursement) Rules, 2020. (2) It shall apply to every employee of the Provincial Government wherever he may be. (3) It shall come into force at once. 2. Definitions.---(1) In these Rules, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context:- (a) "Act" means the Balochistan Government Employees Benevolent Fund Act, 2018; (b) "Assets" means the assets of the Benevolent Fund acquired or developed through the benevolent fund or granted to the Fund; (c) "Assistant Fund Manager" means the Assistant Fund Manager of the Fund Management Unit of Finance Department, established under the Rules of Business of Government of Balochistan, 2012; (d) "Board" means the Board of Management as set up under section 4 of the Act; (e) "Government" means the Government of Balochistan; (f) "Provincial Government Employees Benevolent Fund" means the Balochistan Government Employees Benevolent Fund established under section 10 of the Act; and these rules; (g) "Retired Government Employee" means and includes an employee who opts to retire after completing 10 years pension-able service or 25 years qualifying service or who has attained the age of superannuation; (h) "Department" means the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) Government of Balochistan; (i) "Death" means death of employee during the service/ employment; (j) "Direct Credit System" means a system of online transfer of amount from the bank account of the Benevolent Fund to the bank account of the beneficiary; (k) "Family" means,- (i) in the case of a male employee, the wife or wives, and in the case of female employee the husband of the employee; (ii) parents, sisters and minor brothers, if residing with and wholly dependent upon him or her; (iii) legitimate children and step children less than twelve years old; (iv) legitimate children and step children not less than twelve years old, if residing with and wholly dependent upon him or her; (l) "Schedule" means schedule appended with these rules; (m) "Shaheed" means an employee who has been declared Shaheed by the Government of Balochistan, Home and Tribal Affairs Department after an incident of terrorism; (n) "Funeral Charges" means the funeral charges, as prescribed by these rules; and (o) "Maintenance Allowance" means Maintenance Allowance as prescribed by these rules. (2) Terms and expressions used but not defined in these rules shall have the same meaning as defined in the Act or any other Rules framed under the Act. 3. Composition of the Board.---(1) The Board of Management for the Balochistan Government Employees Benevolent Fund is comprising of the following:- 1. Secretary, Government of Balochistan, Services and General Administration Department, Quetta. Chairman 2. Secretary, Government of Balochistan, Finance Department, Quetta. Member 3. Secretary, Government of Balochistan, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department, Quetta. Member 4. Secretary, Government of Balochistan, Secondary Education Department, Quetta. Member 5. Additional Secretary (Admn:), Services and General Administration Department, Quetta. Member 6. Deputy Secretary (Admn:), Services and General Administration Department, Quetta. Member 7. President, Balochistan Officers Welfare Association (B-16 and above). Member 8. President, Civil Secretariat Staff Association (B-1 to B-15). Member 9. Section Officer (Benevolent Fund),Services and General Administration Department, Quetta. Secretary (2) In case of absence of a Secretary of a department, an officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary (BPS-18) shall represent the Department. 4. Function and powers of the Board.---The Board shall have the following powers:- (a) to settle claims for Lump Sum Payment under the Act and all matters connected with such claims; (b) to sanction grant from the Benevolent Fund to the employees or their families in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the rules made there under; (c) to do or cause to be done all acts and things necessary for the proper administration and management of the moneys or properties in the Benevolent Fund; (d) to sanction expenditure connected with the administration and management of the Benevolent Fund; (e) to make arrangement for the Lump Sum Payment to the employees to give effect to the provisions of the Act; (f) to invest moneys held in the Benevolent Fund in profitable ventures; (g) to appoint or employ such persons as it considers necessary for the efficient performance of its operations on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the rules; and (h) to do or cause to be done all things ancillary or incidental to any of the aforesaid powers or to the purposes of the Benevolent Fund. 5. Duties of the Secretary.---(1) All decisions of the meetings of the Board shall be recorded in writing in the form of minutes of the meeting, to be signed by each member of the Board, and be maintained by the Secretary. (2) Subject to the general control and supervision of the Board, the Secretary shall be responsible for:- (a) compilation and maintenance of assets and liabilities of the Fund; (b) maintenance of records of amount deducted and subsequently disbursed to the Fund Management of the Finance Department; (c) preparation and presentation of budget of the Fund for each financial year to the Board; in consultation with the Assistant Fund Manager of the Finance Department. (d) receiving of application forms from the pensioners, verifying the documents and compiling employee and scale wise lists of beneficiaries for presentation to the Board for approval; (e) ensuring that the admissible amount payable to the employees or their families have been transferred to their accounts accordingly; (f) annual review of the amount of monthly contribution from the employees and amount of disbursement at the time of retirement or death in consultation with the Fund Management Unit; (g) preparation of annual accounts including details of investments, assets and liabilities, getting it audited and its presentation to the Board in liaison with Assistant Fund Manager; (h) preparation of a control check list for the documents required from the pensioners or their families for submitting application for withdrawal of Benevolent Fund amount; (i) develop a data base of the pensioners who have been paid the amount of Benevolent Fund; (j) preparation of the agenda and all matters ancillary to the meetings of the Board; and (k) the performance of such other functions as may be assigned to him by the Board/Chairman. 6. Payment of Subscriptions by Employees.---(1) Where the amount of subscription to the Benevolent Fund cannot, for any reason, be deducted from the pay of an employee, the employee shall:- (a) in case he is serving abroad, remit the amount to the Benevolent Fund through cross cheque/online in favour of Balochistan Benevolent Fund Account maintained in a scheduled Bank; (b) any amount of subscription to the Benevolent Fund remaining unpaid due to inadvertence or negligence of the employee or otherwise shall upon a direction in writing of the Board, be deducted by the Accountant General Office/Treasury/District Accounts Officer from the salary of such employee; and (c) where the Board, as the case may be, upon a request being made in writing by the employee finds that deduction of the amounts (as per Schedule-I) remaining unpaid will result in any hardship to the employee, the amount may be deducted in such number of installments, not exceeding eight, as the Board may decide. (2) An amount, at the rate provided in Schedule-I, shall be deducted from the Basic Pay of employees on monthly basis, as defined in these rules. (3) The amount of subscription paid shall at first instance be recovered in the Public Account of Government of Balochistan and shall be forwarded to the Balochistan Employees Benevolent Fund Account by the Accountant General on monthly basis. 7. Payment of Lump Sum Benevolent Fund.---(1) At the time of retirement, death or Shahadat of an employee, the Benevolent Fund shall be paid to the employee on the last substantive pay scale at the time of retirement or death including death due to Shahadat according to the rates specified in Schedule-II to these rules according to an average service period of thirty years, Provided that, if a person earlier demises before reaching superannuation period and is not declared Shaheed, he shall be paid the amount in proportion to the period he would have served if he had reached the superannuation period; Provided further that an employee, who is deceased during service and is declared Shaheed, full amount of return shall be paid to his family irrespective of the years he had served in service. Explanation:---The rates provided in Schedule-II are based on a thirty years' service period, that is, if the total number of years served by an employee are thirty years or less], he/she shall be paid proportionate amount of the admissible amount of return as calculated. (2) All the payments shall be made through direct credit system, preferably in the pension account of the pensioners or to their families. 8. Submission of Application for Lump-sum Payment from Benevolent Fund.---In case of retirement, death or Shahadat of an employee, the head of the Administrative Department of such employee shall forward the case to the Board through Secretary to the Board for payment of the amount assured in accordance with the rules. 9. Payment of Lump-Sum Amount.---The Board shall approve a lump-sum amount as specified in the Schedule "II" to the employee on his retirement, death or Shahadat during service, on an application submitted through his Administrative Department. 10. Grant of Monthly Maintenance Allowance to the Widows of Deceased including Shaheed Employees.---(1) Monthly Maintenance Allowance shall be granted to the widow of an employee deceased or Shaheed during service, till the widow is alive or remarried, on an application submitted through the Administrative Department concerned. (2) The Widows of deceased/Shaheed employees shall be paid a monthly maintenance allowance according to the rates provided in Schedule-IV to these rules: Provided that, the monthly maintenance allowance shall be paid through direct credit system only. 11. Order for payment of the sum assured in case of deceased shall be issued in favour of the recipient of the pension or the nominees as the case may be. If no objection is received to the Board within 30 days of receipt of such orders, the Board shall make payment to the recipient of pension of the deceased. 12. Funeral Charges.---A sum not exceeding to Rs. 20,000/- to a Government employee from BPS-1 to BPS-15 on death of himself/herself as well as a family member of his/her family. 13. Payment of Lump Sum amount to already Retired Employees.---(1) The pensioners of the Balochistan Government shall be paid a lump sum amount according to the rate of disbursement as provided in Schedule-III to these rules, from the year the deduction of contribution against Benevolent Fund from the salaries of the employees was made mandatory. (2) The Fund Manager shall devise a plan of payment, according to the available balances on the Fund and expected future contributions in to it, and get it approved from the Board. (3) The payment plan shall include the time line for payment, documents required in accepting application for disbursing the Benevolent Fund amount and the method of payment to the pensioners. 14. Budget of the Benevolent Fund.---The Secretary of Board, in consultation with the Assistant Fund Manager shall prepare annual budget estimates for the expected disbursement during a financial year, the expected return on investments and operational costs of the fund during the year, and present the budget to the Board for review and approval. 15. Investments.---(1) The Assistant Fund Manager shall be responsible for the management of the investments of the Benevolent Fund with due diligence and care and shall carry out appropriate risk assessments before making any investments. (2) Any investments shall be made with the approval of the Benevolent Fund Investment Committee, presented to it in form of proposals and risk assessments. The decisions of the committee shall be written in form of minutes duly approved by the Committee. (3) The Fund Management Unit shall develop an investment policy which shall be approved by the Investment Committee and subsequently presented to the Board for approval. The investment policy shall emphasize on investing in a portfolio of investments and shall provide for risk management and risk mitigation policies and procedures, accounting and auditing procedures, criteria of investments and intervals of holding of meetings of the Committee. (4) The Investment Committee shall consist of the following:- (i) Secretary, Government of Balochistan, Services and General Administration Department, Quetta. Chairman (ii) Secretary, Government of Balochistan, Finance Department, Quetta. Member (iii) Additional Secretary, Services and General Administration Balochistan, Quetta. Member (iv) Additional Secretary (Resources/Fund), Finance Department, Government of Balochistan, Quetta. Member (v) Deputy Secretary (Admn:), Services and General Administration Balochistan, Quetta. Member (vi) Assistant Fund Manager, Finance Department, Government of Balochistan, Quetta. Member (vii) Section Officer (B.F) Services and General Administration Department, Quetta. Secretary 16. Repeal.---The Balochistan Government Employees Benevolent Fund, (Disbursement) Part-I Rules, 1982 and the Balochistan Government Employees Benevolent Fund, (Disbursement) Part-II Rules, 1982 are hereby repealed.