Life certificate format for pensioners — the form, and who may sign it

Most defence pensioners now give the yearly life certificate digitally — through SPARSH or Jeevan Pramaan. The paper form has not gone away, and for some pensioners it is the only route that works. This page carries that form as the regulations print it, and the full list of people allowed to sign it.

Why this matters: "Submission of Annual Life Certificate is mandatory for continuance of monthly pension." Those are the words of the Records Office Directorate's own advisory. No certificate, no pension.

The form, as the regulations print it

This is Appendix-XVIII of the Pension Regulations for the Army, Part II (2008), page 150 — the format referred to in Regulation 81. Print it, fill it, and have it signed by one of the authorities listed below.

Nothing else belongs on this form. It says one thing — that the pensioner is alive on that date — and the value is in who signs it.

Who may sign it

The regulations name eighteen authorities. Any one of them is enough:

1. Any person exercising the power of a Magistrate under the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898
2. A Registrar or Sub-Registrar under the Registration Act, 1908
3. Any pensioned Officer who before retirement exercised the powers of a Magistrate
4. Any Gazetted Officer of Government
5. A Munsif
6. A Post Master
7. A Departmental Sub Post Master
8. An Inspector of Post Offices
9. A Class I Officer of the Reserve Bank of India
10. An Officer of the State Bank of India
11. An Officer of a subsidiary Bank of the State Bank of India
12. Head of a Village Panchayat, Gram Panchayat or Gaon Panchayat
13. Head of an Executive Committee of a village
14. An officer of a bank included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 — in respect of a pensioner drawing pension through that bank
15. A Police Officer not below the rank of Sub-Inspector-in-Charge of a Police Station
16. A member of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Sabha or Vidhan Parishad, or a Corporator of a Municipal Corporation or a Councilor of a Municipality
17. For a re-employed pensioner — a life certificate furnished by the pensioner and signed by the Head of the office where he is re-employed
18. A District Sainik Welfare Officer (DSWO)

For most families the practical three are the Post Master, an officer of the bank that pays the pension, and the District Sainik Welfare Officer.

When the paper form is the right route

The advisory sets out two situations:

• Aadhaar is not in your SPARSH PPO. Then a digital certificate through Jeevan Pramaan "will not be feasible". In that case the manual life certificate "can be uploaded on SPARSH through pensioner's login".
• You cannot do that, or there is no internet where you live. The advisory names "remote/border areas". Then the manual certificate, in the format above and duly signed by the competent authority, "can be submitted by post to PCDA(P) with a copy to concerned Record Office".

Send it to both. The copy to your Record Office is what saves you a second round of running about if the first envelope goes missing.

If you are doing it digitally instead

On the Jeevan Pramaan portal the dropdowns must be set exactly like this, or the certificate never reaches SPARSH:

• Category: Central Govt.
• Pension Sanctioning Authority: Defence-PCDA(P) Allahabad
• Pension Disbursing Agency: SPARSH-PCDA(P) Allahabad
• PPO No: only the 12-digit ePPO or SPARSH PPO number

The mistake that wastes a month Submit as a "New Pensioner". If you do not, the portal picks up old values — the old PPO number and paying agency — and that certificate "cannot be exported to SPARSH". It looks submitted at your end and never arrives at theirs.

Do not know your 12-digit number? It can be found on the PCDA(P) portal (pcdapension.nic.in) under the "Migration into SPARSH" tab. Searching by regimental number is the easier way — and for seven-digit Army numbers, add a zero at the beginning. Our guide to finding your PPO number walks through it.

The nearest CSC does this free

Over four lakh Common Service Centres — known locally as Jan Suvidha Kendra or eMitra — are nominated as SPARSH Service Centres under an MoU between the CGDA and MeitY.

Nobody may charge you The advisory is blunt: charges for these services "will be remitted to CSCs by CGDA and pensioners do not need to pay anything to CSC operators". If an operator asks for money for a life certificate, that is not a fee — it is a fleecing.

Checking whether yours reached

The list of pensioners whose life certificates are still pending is published on the PCDA(P) portal and, in the advisory's words, "is being updated on daily basis". You can look for your own name from any computer. If your pension has already stopped, our page on pension not credited sets out the order to follow.

If the pensioner has died

Do not submit a life certificate. The procedure for reporting a death is on SPARSH under the Services tab, and the family pension claim follows from there — see which family pension applies and the family pension calculator.