RECURRING DEPOSIT - PROTECTED SAVINGS SCHEME
(1). Under the scheme, on the death of the depositor, his/her nominee or legal heir can claim full maturity value of the account(s) less value of defaults, if any, with interest due and amount of withdrawal outstanding, if any, with interest. The total benefit admissible for all such accounts shall be restricted to as admissible for an account of denomination of Rs. 100/- The benefit will be admissible provided the following conditions are satisfied:
(i) Twenty-four months have elapsed from the date of opening the account, and during the said period all the first twenty four monthly instalments have been paid into the account without any default and there has been no loan/withdrawal from the account during the said period.
Note: Defaulted instalment(s) paid with interest during the period of 2 years before the death of the depositor or surviving depositor, as the case may be, shall not be treated as default.
(ii) The age of the depositor or depositors, as the case may be, at the time of opening the account was not less than 18 years and not more than 55 years. This facility is admissible even if the depositor or the depositors has or have not given a declaration in writing indicating the age of such depositor or depositors.
(iii) The legal heir/nominee of deceased depositor has not made any claim or has not already been given the benefit in respect of any other account under the scheme.
(iv) Claim is applied for within one year of the death of depositor.
(2). Date of birth of the depositor is to be mentioned in the application for opening the account and entered in the CIF during CIF generation. When the date of birth has not been given by the depositor before his/her death, the claimant(s) shall furnish a certified copy of the school leaving certificate of the deceased account holder or a declaration on plain paper as to the age of the deceased depositor at the time of opening the account duly attested by a Gazetted Officer. Magistrate including Honorary Magistrate, Member of Parliament or of Legislature (Including Metropolitan Council of Delhi) or a Panchayat President or Pramukh.
(3). If a depositor or the surviving depositor, as the case may be, has more than one account of denominations not exceeding One hundred rupees, the benefit of payment under this scheme will be admissible in respect of all such accounts which may be specified by the depositor subject to a maximum of the maturity value of an account of denomination of Rs.100/-. Where the depositor has only one account of the denomination Rs.100/- the benefit will be available for that account. Where the depositor has more than one account of the denominations above Rs.100/- the benefit will be admissible in respect of only one account
which may be specified by the depositor subject to a maximum of the maturity value of an account of denomination of Rs.100/-. The depositor may change the option of account already specified, by an application to the Post Office Savings Bank where the accounts stand opened. If no such account has been specified by the depositor, the benefit of payment shall be admissible in respect of earlier account which qualifies for payment. If the depositor has more than one account, and different nominations have been made in respect of the accounts, the benefit of payment shall be admissible to the nominees in respect of earlier accounts which qualify for payment. Sanction of Claim under PSS
(i) The legal heir or nominee, as the case may be, when reports the death of the depositor, shall be asked to apply for the full maturity value of the account in form (SB-101) (available in the link https://www.indiapost.gov.in/VAS/Pages/Form.aspx) to the post office where the account stands not later than one year from the death of such depositor. On the basis of the information given by the claimant and other information available in the post office records, the post office will fill in 3 copies of the form (SB-101 A). The Head Postmaster should process the claim in the same way as other SB claims. He/She should ensure that the account/accounts is/are eligible to get the benefit of the scheme and after he is satisfied, he/she will send two copies of form SB-101A duly completed to the Head of the Circle for verification of the claim. This is to ensure that not more than eligible account/accounts of the deceased depositor get the benefit of the scheme. This will be verified by the Head of the Circle with reference to the Master Register maintained by him for this purpose. One copy of form SB-101A duly verified will be returned by the Head of the Circle to the Head Post Office. The Head Postmaster will issue the sanction for the amount.
(ii) In sub offices, the claim applications duly completed should be forwarded to the Head Postmaster.
(iii) In ED branch offices all claim applications received by the Branch Postmaster for the balance in the account of a deceased depositor should be forwarded to the head/account office. An entry regarding the claim should be made in the remarks column of the RD Journal relating to the account against the last date of transaction and no withdrawal will be allowed till intimation is received from the head/account office.
(iv) The benefits paid under the scheme viz., the amount of undeposited instalments and unearned interest, should be classified under the “Major Head-2235- Social Security and Welfare-E. Other Social Security and Welfare Programme. “Protected Savings Scheme (RD)”. Since this account head will be operated in the Postal Accounts Offices, the Head Post Offices will have to give clear details of this payment in the schedule of “Unclassified Payment” to enable the Postal Accounts Offices to correctly classify it. In the Head Post Offices payment of the benefit admissible under the scheme will be booked under the head “Unclassified Payment” with the contra credit to RD deposits. The schedule of Unclassified Payments should bear a clear remark indicating that the payment relates to the benefit of un-deposited instalments and unearned interest in RD account No. .........standing ...............PO and closed on ............as admissible under the Protected Savings Scheme.
Note 1: Whenever a claim is preferred in regard to a RD account, whose depositor is dead, sanctioning authorities should examine whether the claim can be settled under the Protected Savings Scheme under which more benefit could be given to the claimant. If it is found that the claimant may be in an advantageous position, if he prefers the claim under the Protected Savings Scheme, he may be advised suitably by these authorities.
Note 2: The post office should not hesitate to entertain such claims even in case where the depositor has not given the declaration expressing his/her wish to avail of the benefit of the Protected Savings Scheme. The post office should, however, ensure that where the deceased depositor was having more than one account, the maximum benefit admissible shall be restricted to as admissible for an account of denomination of Rs. 100/-.
Note 3: The amount of advance deposits remaining after the death of the depositor may also be refunded back to the claimant along with the full maturity value of the account under the Protected Savings Scheme.
Note 4: The interest due on outstanding loan / withdrawal and defaulted instalments, if any, should be recovered / adjusted up to the date of death of the depositor and not up to the date of payment of maturity value.
Note 5: Relaxation of rules in exceptional cases: In following cases, claims under the Protected Savings Scheme for payment of full maturity value on the death of the depositor may be referred to the Directorate through the Head of the Circle.
(v) Delay in the submission of the claim after the expiry of one year’s prescribed period after the death of the depositor.
(vi) Premature death of the depositor before the completion of two years from the date of opening the account provided all the 24 instalments have been paid by the depositor before his/her death.
(vii) The Directorate will forward such cases to the Ministry of Finance for their approval. The Ministry of Finance will send two copies of the sanction in such cases to the Directorate who will in turn forward the second copy to the Postmaster General concerned for further necessary action. Thereafter the claim will be sanctioned in accordance with the existing procedure.
Note 1: Benefit admissible under PSS for an account of denomination exceeding Rs.100/-. The benefit of PSS is admissible up to the denomination of Rs.100/- only.
Note 2: Benefit under PSS when depositor is having more than one account :- If a depositor has more than one RD account, the benefit under PSS in all accounts will be limited to the maturity value of an account of Rs. 100/- denomination.
(5). Procedure in Circle Office for registration and verification of claims under the Protected Savings Scheme in RD accounts
(i) For registration and verification of the claims under the Protected Savings Scheme, the Head of the Circle will maintain a Master Register as per proforma given below. On receipt of the claim papers from HPO, the earlier entries in the Master Register which is maintained serial-wise and claim-wise in the name of a particular deceased account holder will be checked up with reference to the date of death of that deceased account holder. For example, if a claim under PSS, in the name of Shri ‘A’ who died on 15.7.1992 is received from ‘B’ HPO by the Head of the Circle on 10.2.1993 for registration, the earlier consecutive registered numbers given in the Master Register from 15.7.1992 (date of death) to 10.2.1993 (date of receipt of claim) will be checked up by the Head of the Circle so that there is no chance of receiving double claim from anyone.
SPECIMEN OF FORM
Proforma of Master Register for registration of the claim under PSS to be maintained in the office of Head of the Circle
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Registration Number and Date |
Name of deceased account holder and address |
Date and place of death |
Age of the account holder at the time of opening of account |
Date of opening of account |
Account No. |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
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Denomination of the account |
Name of HO |
Name of claimant and address |
Relationship with account holder |
Signature of Controlling authority |
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7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
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