Haryana Government Gazette EXTRAORDINARY
Published by Authority
© Govt. of Haryana
No. 127-2023/Ext.] CHANDIGARH, WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2023 (ASADHA 28, 1945 SAKA)
HARYANA GOVERNMENT
SOCIAL JUSTICE, EMPOWERMENT, WELFARE OF SCHEDULED CASTES AND BACKWARD CLASSES AND ANTYODAYA (SEWA) DEPARTMENT
Notification
The 19th July, 2023
No. 40/9/2023-4SW.— The Governor of Haryana is pleased to notify the Financial Assistance Scheme for the widower and unmarried persons in the State of Haryana, as under:-
This scheme shall be called "Financial Assistance to Widower and Unmarried Persons Scheme, 2023" and this scheme shall be applicable throughout the State of Haryana. This scheme shall come into operation from 1st July, 2023.
2. Aim: The aim of the scheme is to provide Social Security to Widower and Unmarried Persons who are unable to sustain themselves from their own sources and are in need of financial assistance from the State.
3. Eligibility Criteria: A person eligible for financial assistance under the scheme shall be:-
(a) A widower who has attained the age of 40 years and his own verified annual income is upto Rs. 03.00 lakh. Such a person should be domicile of Haryana and should have been residing in Haryana State for the last one year at the time of submission of application. A person who is a divorcee or in a Live-in-relationship shall not be eligible for financial assistance under the scheme.
(b) An unmarried person, male as well as female, who has attained the age of 45 years and belongs to a family whose verified annual family income is upto Rs. 1.80 lakhs. Such a person should be domicile of Haryana and should have been residing in Haryana State for the last one year at the time of submission of application.
4. Other terms and Conditions:-
(i) The monthly rate of financial assistance under the scheme shall be on the same rate as being provided under ―Financial Assistance to Destitute Women & Widows Scheme‖, which is presently Rs. 2750/- per month.
(ii) Financial Assistance under the scheme will be provided till the beneficiary attains age of 60 years.
Thereafter, he/she will be eligible to receive the Old Age Samman Allowance, subject to eligibility.
(iii) The beneficiary shall not be allowed to draw the financial Assistance in case he/she is already drawing any other pension/financial assistance/annuity from any Govt/ Autonomous body.
(1881)1882 HARYANA GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA.), JULY 19, 2023 (ASAR. 28, 1945 SAKA) (iv) Social Welfare Officer (DSWO) shall have the right to stop payment of Financial Assistance if at any stage, it is found that the benefit has been availed on a mistaken ground/false information or the condition for which benefit was granted no longer exists or the beneficiaries got married after the grant of benefit but he/she does not inform the concerned District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO) in this regards, the benefit drawn by him/her will be recovered along with interest @ 12% per annum.
(v) The verification of eligibility will be on the basis of data available on the FIDR (Family Information Data Repository) established under the provision of Haryana Parivar Pehchan Act, 2021. Hence, obtaining a family ID will be mandatory for the beneficiary.
5. Process for sanction of benefit:-
(i) The data fields for determining eligibility, as per the eligibility criteria mentioned in Para-3 above, shall be provided by Haryana Parivar Pehchan Authority (HPPA).
(ii) After checking the record (already beneficiaries/eligibility etc), The Social Justice, Empowerment, Welfare of SCs & BCs and Antyodaya (SEWA) Department shall, on a monthly basis by 10th of every month, provide the upgraded list of beneficiaries electronically through secure data transfer process to HPPA.
(iii) Haryana Parivar Pehchan Authority shall provide in an electronic form through a secure data transfer process, the list of the persons, who as per data maintained & verified by Haryana Parivar Pehchan Authority are eligible for Financial Assistance under this Scheme, alongwith their details, every month by 15th of that month. The details as provided by the HPPA, particularly the age of the person, his/her marital status & income status, domicile and residence proof and bank account details of the person, will not require any further verification by Social Justice, Empowerment, Welfare of SCs & BCs and Antyodaya (SEWA) Department, Haryana. However, if any specific fact otherwise comes to the knowledge of the department regarding correctness of the information/verification, the same will be forwarded by SEWA, Deptt. to the Haryana Parivar Pehchan Authority through the online grievance handling process for further inquiry or/and into the verification.
(iv) After determination of the eligibility of the person under the scheme, the intended beneficiary will be contacted by the concerned District Social Welfare Officer or any other authorized Government representative, for obtaining his/her consent for availing the Financial Assistance under this Scheme. DSWOs will complete the consent process by the last date of the month in which the data has been pushed. The Beneficiary / Pension ID will be issued by the Department of SEWA by 7th of the next month. District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO) will ensure that the person is not drawing any other pension / Financial Assistance / Annuity etc. as per the scheme guidelines. In case any information is available with DSWO regarding the corrections of the verified data provided by HPPA, then the same will be intimated through the online grievance handling process established by HPPA using the login credentials of the DSWO provided by HPPA. After receipt of intended beneficiary's consent and inquiry, concerned District Social Welfare Officer will approve online, on the portal of the SEWA Department, the Financial Assistance in the beneficiary's favour and a Unique Identification Number will be generated and further provided to the beneficiary.
6. Stoppage of Financial Assistance:-
(i) Financial Assistance shall be sanctioned upto the age of 60 years and thereafter, the same will be converted into Old Age Samman Allowance Scheme, subject to the eligibility, and beneficiary will continue to draw Old Age Samman Allowance for the entire life of the beneficiary. However, the District Social Welfare officer shall have the right to stop payment of Financial Assistance, if at any stage it is found that it was sanctioned on a mistaken ground or false information or the condition for which the benefit was granted no longer exists or the beneficiary got married after the grant of benefit.
(ii) Financial Assistance shall cease to be payable on the death of a beneficiary. However, the amount of assistance will be paid for full month in which death of the beneficiary occurs (any date of the month) to the nominee.
(iii) In case Financial Assistance is sanctioned on the basis of wrong information given by the applicant in his/her application form or the assistance has been stopped due to any other reasons as mentioned in para 6(i) above but the concerned beneficiary does not inform the concerned DSWO in this regard, the amount drawn by him/her would be recovered along with interest @ 12% per annum.
(iv) Financial Assistance under this scheme shall not be liable to attachment under any court of law.
HARYANA GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA.), JULY 19, 2023 (ASAR. 28, 1945 SAKA) 18837. Change of address:- It shall be obligatory for a beneficiary to intimate any change of address to the District Social Welfare Officer. A beneficiary shifting to a place outside Haryana State for a period exceeding three months shall not be ordinarily eligible for payment of Financial Assistance during the period of his/her stay outside Haryana State. However, in a case involving real hardship, the District Social Welfare Officer may permit payment of Financial Assistance to such a person for a period of absence up to one year, if he is satisfied that the shifting of residence was absolutely essential for the beneficiary.
8. Mode of payment:-
a) The Financial Assistance will be distributed through Public Finance Management System (PFMS).
b) The Bank will not permit the beneficiary to withdraw the benefits from outside the district in which he is registered.
c) In case there is no withdrawal from the bank account for a continuous period of 60 days, such bank account will be rendered ―inoperative‖ for the purpose of this Scheme by the Bank with no further credit of benefits under this Scheme into it. Such ―inoperative‖ bank accounts will be reported by the Bank to Department. In case the beneficiary applies for re-operationalization of the bank accounts within the next 90 days with justification reason, the bank account may be re-operationalized with the permission of the Director. If not, the bank account will be rendered ―dead‖ for the purpose of this Scheme and the benefits credited into the bank account after the last withdrawal would be remitted back to the Department with accrued interest by the bank.
d) If a person is detected of having more than one bank account under the PFMS, all his bank accounts will be terminated. He would become ineligible to receive benefits under any Social Security Scheme of the State in future.
e) Any benefits received under the Scheme, by suppressing true information or making wrong claim or the condition for which the pension was granted no longer exists or the beneficiary got married after the grant of benefit, would be recovered as arrears of land revenue with @12% interest per annum.
9. No further payment shall be made if the acknowledgement of disbursement/payment has not been received for two consecutive installments. The Financial Assistance which have remained unpaid for two consecutive installments or more shall be enquired into by the concerned District Social Welfare Officer who will take necessary action in this regard.
10. The Director General/Director, Social Justice, Empowerment, Welfare of SCs & BCs and Antyodaya (SEWA) Department shall be over all in charge of the Scheme and necessary instructions in regard to its proper enforcement and accounting procedure shall be issued by him from time to time.
11. The whole expenditure under the Scheme including any other expenditure on disbursement of Financial Assistance shall be debitable to the head ―P-01-2235-Social Security & Welfare-60-Other Social Security & Welfare Programme-102-Pension under Social Security Schemes –(96) Financial Assistance to Destitute Women and Widows -27- Pension‖.
12. This issues with the concurrence of the Cabinet of Ministers conveyed vide their U. O. No. 9/110/2023-2Cabinet, dated 07th July, 2023.
VIJAYENDRA KUMAR, Chandigarh: The 19th July, 2023.
Principal Secretary to Government Haryana, Social Justice, Empowerment, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes and Antyodaya (SEWA) Department Haryana.
10484—C.S.—H.G.P., Pkl.