The President's Pension Ordinance, 1979

An Ordinance to provide for payment of pension to persons who have held office as President.

Ordinance NO. XVIII OF 1979

20th March, 1979

An Ordinance to provide for payment of pension to persons who have held office as President. WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for payment of pension and other benefits to persons who have held office as President of Bangladesh; NOW, THEREFORE, in pursuance of the Proclamations of the 20th August, 1975, and the 8th November, 1975 and in exercise of all powers enabling him in that behalf, the President is pleased to make and promulgate the following Ordinance:-

Section 1. Short title

This Ordinance may be called the President's Pension Ordinance, 1979.

Section 2. Pension to ex-President

(1) There shall be payable to a person who, having held the office of President of Bangladesh for a period of not less than six months, has ceased to hold office by reason of resignation or expiration of the term of office ¹a monthly pension, for the remainder of his life, of a sum equal to ²seventy five per cent of the salary payable to him per mensem before he ceased to hold such office ³subject to a minimum of seven thousand five hundred taka, unless he elects under sub-section (2) to receive gratuity in lieu thereof:

Provided that where any such person receives a monthly pension from the Consolidated Fund for having retired from any service, post or office, he shall be entitled to receive either such pension or the pension payable under this section and shall not be entitled to both ⁴:

Provided further that when any such person elects to receive pension payable under this section, the sum received by him on commutation of his earlier pension shall not be recoverable either by adjustment or otherwise.

(2) A person entitled to receive pension under sub-section (1) may, within one month from the date on which he becomes so entitled, elect to receive in lieu of such pension a gratuity, and if he so elects, shall be paid as gratuity ⁵a sum equal to the amount of pension payable to him for each completed year of the period for which he has held office as President subject to a maximum of eight times of the amount of such pension for one year.

(3) If a person entitled to receive pension under sub-section (1) dies without receiving such pension or without electing for gratuity under sub-section (2), he shall be deemed to have elected for gratuity and the sum due to him as gratuity shall be paid to the person nominated by him in this behalf or, in the absence of such nomination, to his heirs.

(4) If a person while holding office as President dies after having held office for more than ⁶six months, there shall be paid to the person nominated by him in this behalf or, in the absence of such nomination, to his heirs, the sum which would have been due to him as gratuity under sub-section (2) had he died after ceasing to hold office.

⁷(5) If a person entitled to receive pension under sub-section (1) dies after receiving such pension, his widow shall be entitled to a monthly pension, for the remainder of her life, equal to two-thirds of the monthly pension he was entitled to receive at the time of his death.

Explanation.- In this sub-section “widow” includes a “widower”.

Other benefits

⁸3. (1) Subject to any rules made in this behalf, a person entitled to receive pension under this Ordinance shall also be entitled to-

(a) one personal assistant and one attendant and office expenses, the total annual expenditure of which shall be determined by the Government from time to time;

(b) medical facilities which are admissible to a Minister;

(d) have one telephone installed at his residence and exemption from payment of charges in respect thereof to the extent to be determined by the Government from time to time;

(e) a diplomatic passport; and

(f) stay in any circuit house or rest house owned by the Government without payment of rent during travel within the country.

(2) The facilities in sub-section (1) (b), (e) and (f) shall also be admissible to the spouse of a person who is entitled to them.

Section 4. Rights not admissible in certain cases

Pension and other benefits under this Ordinance shall not be admissible to a person entitled thereto if he-

⁹(a) holds or has held, after he ceased to hold office as President, any office, seat, position or post in respect of which he receives or has received any salary from the Consolidated Fund; or

(b) is, after he has become so entitled, convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude.

Section 5. [Omitted]

[Pension, etc., to be a charge on Consolidated Fund.- Omitted by section 3 of the President's Pension (Amendment) Act, 1995 (Act No. XXIII of 1995).]

Section 6. Power to make Rules

The Government may make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Ordinance.

1.The words and commas “a monthly pension, for the remainder of his life, of a sum equal to half of the salary payable to him per mensem before he ceased to hold such office” were substituted for the words “a pension of two thousand taka per month for the remainder of his life” by section 2 of the President’s Pension (Amendment) Act, 1988 (Act No. VII of 1988)

2.The words “seventy five per cent” were substituted for the word “half ” by section 2 of the President’s Pension (Amendment) Act, 1995 (Act No. XXIII of 1995)

3.The words and comma “subject to a minimum of seven thousand five hundred taka,” were inserted by section 2 of the President’s Pension (Amendment) Act, 1995 (Act No. XXIII of 1995)

4.The colon (:) was substituted for the full-stop (.) and the proviso was added thereafter by section 2 of the President’s Pension (Amendment) Act, 1988 (Act No. VII of 1988)

5.The words “a sum equal to the amount of pension payable to him for each completed year of the period for which he has held office as President subject to a maximum of eight times of the amount of such pension for one year” were substituted for the words “a sum calculated at the rate of taka twenty-five thousand for each completed year of the period for which he has held office as President subject to a maximum of Taka two lakh” by section 2 of the President’s Pension (Amendment) Act, 1988 (Act No. VII of 1988)

6.The words “six months” were substituted for the words “one year” by section 2 of the President’s Pension (Amendment) Act, 1988 (Act No. VII of 1988)

7.Sub-section (5) was added by section 2 of the President’s Pension (Amendment) Act, 1988 (Act No. VII of 1988)

8.Section 3 was substituted by section 3 of the President’s Pension (Amendment) Act, 1988 (Act No. VII of 1988)

9.Clause (a) was substituted by section 4 of the President’s Pension (Amendment) Act, 1988 (Act No. VII of 1988)