Date:April 01,2024.
Master Circular - Disbursement of Government Pension by Agency Banks
Excerpts:
Withdrawal of pension by old/ sick/ disabled/ incapacitated pensioners
In order to take care of problems/ difficulties faced by sick and disabled pensioners in withdrawal of pension / family pension from the banks, agency banks may categorize such pensioners as under:
1.Pensioner who is too ill to sign a cheque / unable to be physically present in the bank.
2.Pensioner who is not only unable to be physically present in the bank but also not even able to put his/her thumb impression on the cheque/ withdrawal form due to certain physical defect /incapacity.
With a view to enabling such old/sick/incapacitated pensioners to operate their accounts, banks may follow the procedure as under:
Wherever thumb or toe impression of the old/sick pensioner is obtained, it should be identified by two independent witnesses known to the bank, one of whom should be a responsible bank official.
Where the pensioner cannot even put his/her thumb/ toe impression and also would not be able to be physically present in the bank, a mark can be obtained on the cheque/withdrawal form, which should be identified by two independent witnesses, one of whom should be a responsible bank official.
The responsible bank official has to be from the same bank, preferably from the same branch, where the pensioner is having his/her pension account.
The pensioner may also be asked to indicate to the bank as to who would withdraw the pension amount from the bank on the basis of cheque/ withdrawal form as obtained above and that person should be identified by two independent witnesses. The person who would be actually drawing the money from the bank should be asked to furnish his signature to the bank.
Accordingly, the agency banks are requested to instruct their branches to display the instructions issued in this regard on their notice board so that sick and disabled pensioners could make full use of these facilities. Agency Banks are also advised to strictly implement the instructions issued by RBI regarding the facilities to be provided to the sick and disabled persons and sensitise staff members in the matter and to refer to the FAQs on pension disbursement hosted on our website (www.rbi.org.in) in case of any doubt.
Continuation of either or survivor pension account after death of pensioner
agency banks were instructed to mandatorily issue duly signed acknowledgements.
Grievances of pensioners are not being addressed properly at the branch level, especially, after the setting up of Centralized Pension Processing Centres (CPPCs). To provide hassle free service to the pensioners, there should be a forum for regular interaction and settlement of grievances. Accordingly, agency banks should appoint one/two nodal officers at each Region/Zone for monitoring the resolution of grievances of pensioners on regular basis and the GM/CGM concerned should review the position at monthly intervals.
Following several complaints from pensioners alleging inordinate delay in disbursing revised pension and arrears, agency banks are advised as under:
Pension paying banks should compensate the pensioner for delay in crediting pension/ arrears thereof at a fixed interest rate of 8 per cent per annum for the delay after the due date of payment and the compensation shall be credited to the pensioner's account automatically without any claim from the pensioner on the same day when the bank affords credit for revised pension/ pension arrears, in respect of all delayed pension payments made since October 1, 2008.
Pension paying banks have been advised to put in place a mechanism to obtain immediately the copies of pension orders from the pension paying authorities directly and make payments without waiting for receipt of instructions from the Reserve Bank of India so that pensioners should get benefits announced by the Governments in the succeeding month's pension payment itself.
When the agency bank is calculating pension, the branch should continue to be a point of referral for the pensioner lest he/she feels disenfranchised.
All branches having pension accounts should guide and assist the pensioners in all their dealings with the bank.
Suitable arrangements should be made to place the arithmetic and other details about pension calculations on the web, to be made available to the pensioners through the net or at the branches at periodic intervals, as may be deemed necessary and sufficient advertisement is made about such arrangements.
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