47. Persons to whom gratuity is payable :- (1) (a) The gratuity payable under Rule 46 shall be paid to the person or persons on whom the right to receive the gratuity is conferred by means of nomination under Rule 49; (b) if there is no such nomination or if the nomination made does not subsist, the gratuity shall be paid in the manner indicated below:- (i) if there are one or more surviving members of the family, as in clauses (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) of sub-rule (5) of Rule 46 to all such members in equal shares; (ii) if there are no such surviving members of the family as in subclause (i) above, but there are one or more members as in clauses (v), (vi), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x) and (xi) of sub-rule (5) of Rule 46 to all such members in equal shares. (2) if a Government servant dies after retirement without receiving the gratuity admissible under sub-rule (1) of Rule 46 the gratuity shall be disbursed to the family in the manner indicated in subrule (1). (3) The right of a female member of the family, or that of a brother, of a Government servant who dies while in service or after retirement, to receive the share of gratuity shall not be affected if the female member marries or re-marries, or the brother attains the age of eighteen years, after the death of the Government servant and before receiving her or his share of the gratuity. (4) Where gratuity is granted under Rule 46 to a minor member of the family of the deceased Government servant, it shall be payable to the guardian on behalf of the minor. Note 1 :- If a nominee, who was entitled to receive the amount of retirement gratuity on the date of death of the Government servant dies before getting the payment, the right to the amount or share of the gratuity shall pass on to the alternative nominee or nominees. In case there are no alternative nominees, the amount or share of gratuity shall be paid in equal shares to the co-nominees of the person concerned, if any, and failing that, it shall be distributed in equal shares among the surviving members of the family of the deceased Government servant as in the case of no nomination. Note 2 :-Payment of minor’s share of Retirement Gratuity to guardian:- (i) Payment of the minor(s)’ share of retirement gratuity is to be made to the natural guardian of the minor(s), and in the absence of a natural guardian, to the persons who furnishes a guardianship certificate. (ii) The legal position as to whom the share of a minor in the capacity of minor’s natural/legal guardian would be payable is explained as under:- (1) Where no valid nomination subsists: (a) When a share is payable to minor sons or minor unmarried daughters, it should be paid to the surviving parent except in the case when the surviving parent happens to be a Muslim lady. Where, however, there is no surviving parent, or the surviving parent is a Muslim lady, payment will have to be made to the persons producing the guardianship certificate. (b) When a share is payable to widowed minor daughter(s), production of a guardianship certificate would be necessary. (c) If in a rare case the wife herself happens to be a minor, the retirement gratuity payable to her shall be paid to the person producing the guardianship certificate. (d) When there are no surviving members of the family as in clauses (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) of sub-rule (5) of Rule 46 and the retirement gratuity becomes payable to a minor brother or a minor unmarried sister, the payment should be made to the father or, in his absence to the mother of the beneficiary except in a case where the mother happens to be a Muslim lady. In this case too, if there is no surviving parent or the surviving parent happens to be a Muslim lady, the payment will have to be made to the person producing the guardianship certificate. If any share is payable to a widowed minor sister the production of guardianship certificate would be necessary. (e) Where the share is payable to a married minor girl in whose favour a valid nomination subsists, the share shall be payable to her husband. Note 3 :- Special Relaxation for payment of minor’s share without guardianship certificate, up to the extent of Rs.5,000/- (1) Note (2) lays down that the payment of minor’s share of retirement gratuity is to be made to the person producing a guardianship certificate when there is no surviving parent or the surviving parent is a Muslim lady. It has been represented that in many cases, the production of guardianship certificate causes great inconvenience and entails delays in the settlement of the claims. (2) It has been decided in modification of the above decision that payment of retirement gratuity to the extent of Rs.5,000/- (or the first Rs.5,000/- where the amount payable exceeds of Rs.5,000) in favour of a minor may be made to his/her guardian, in the absence of a natural guardian, without the production of formal guardianship certificate but subject to the production of an indemnity bond with suitable sureties to the satisfaction of the sanctioning authority. The balance in excess of Rs.5,000/ -, if any, would become payable on the production of a certificate of guardianship. (3) It is essential, however, that there should be adequate prima facie grounds for making payment as in para (2) above, to the persons claiming it. Such ground can exist only if he is shown by a sworn declaration to be a defacto guardian and his bonafides have been ascertained. Even if a guardian has not yet been appointed by the Court, if the minor and his property are in the custody of some person, such person is in law a defacto guardian. The authorities making the payment should, therefore, require the person who comes forward to claim payment on behalf of the minor, to satisfy them by an affidavit that he is in-charge of the property of the minor and is looking after it or that, if the minor has no property other than the gratuity, the minor is in his custody and care. The affidavit so to be produced is in addition to the indemnitybond with suitable sureties. (4) The indemnity bond which is to be required to be produced by a defacto guardian of minor(s) for payment of retirement gratuity to the extent of Rs.5,000 should be executed in the prescribed form. (5) The indemnity bond should be signed by the obliger and the surety/sureties or their respective attorneys appointed by power(s) of attorney. The indemnity bond on behalf of the Governor should be accepted by an officer duly authorised under Article 299(1) of the Constitution. Executive Instructions (i) Procedure to be followed in the case of deceased Government servants who have not filed nomination prior to death:- Where it is found that the Government servants have not nominated any one before their death, to receive the terminal benefits, the sanctioning authority should issue a registered notice to the heirs at the last known address for submission of the required papers with guidelines as to how to complete and submit them. (G.M. No.046 454-c/656/PSC.1/82, Fin. & Plg. (FW:PSC) Dept., dated 2-12-1982) (ii) Relinquishment of right to receive Retirement Gratuity not permissible:- Relinquishment of his/her share of Retirement Gratuity in favour of another member of family (in the absence of valid nomination for Retirement Gratuity) is not permissible under A.P. Liberalised Pension Rules, 1961 and A.P. Revised Pension Rules 1980. Therefore, the Retirement Gratuity has to be paid according to rules only even if any of the member may volunteer or desire that his/her share may be paid to some other member of the family. (Govt’s Lr.No.85082-B/1051/Pen.I/84-2, dated 9-2-1985 of Fin. & Plg. (FW:Pen.I) Dept., to the A.G., A.P)