Defence ministry urges defence pensioners to complete annual identification by May 25

The Ministry of Defence on Wednesday requested the defence pensioners to complete their annual identification by May 25 to ensure smooth processing of monthly pension. Upon verification of data received as of Tuesday, it has been noticed that 43,774 defence pensioners -- who have migrated to online pension disbursal system SPARSH -- have not completed their annual identification, neither online nor through their respective banks, according to the the ministry.

"Further, for legacy pensioners (pre-2016 retirees) who continue to be on the old system of pension, it is informed that nearly 1.2 lakh pensioners have not completed their annual identification through any of the means available," it added.

At the beginning of this month, the disbursement of monthly pensions to 58,275 defence pensioners was delayed as their banks could not confirm their annual identification by April 30.


Therefore, the defence ministry had on May 4 granted a one-time special waiver to these 58,275 affected employees, stating that the April pensions will be deposited on that day itself.

However, the ministry had then asked these 58,275 pensioners to get their annual identification done by May 25.