Claim procedure on death of the depositors of Small Savings Schemes like SB, RD, TD, MIS, etc.
To make the process of claiming money from the various post office small savings schemes such as Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (PO-MIS), Post Office Recurring Deposit, Term Deposits, and claim procedures of Public Provident Fund (PPF), National Savings Certificate (NSC), Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS), Sukanya Samriddhi Account (SSA), etc. easier, the government has made certain amendments in the process. The process has been streamlined via a circular No.SB order 36/2020 dated 06.11.2020.
We have written separate posts for the following type of deposits click below to know the details
(1) Public Provident Fund (PPF),
(2) National Savings Certificate (NSC),
(3) Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS), and
(4) Sukanya Samriddhi Account (SSA)
The claimant may be the nominee or legal heir. If there is a nomination, the nominee can prefer the claim in the prescribed form along with a death certificate and KYC documents (Identity proof and Address proof). If there is no nomination, any one of the legal heirs can prefer the claim in the prescribed form [SB84]. For this death certificate and consent statements of all legal heirs are required. Claim up to Rupee Five lakh can be settled. In case of death claims, where no nomination is registered or the claimant is unable to provide any legal evidence and the final claim amount does not exceed Rs 5 lakh, then the legal heir can submit a claim after six months of the death of the depositor. In this case, claim settlements without legal evidence relating to Savings Bank Accounts and Savings Certificates of deceased depositor shall be treated as separate and the prescribed limit shall be applied separately for each account or purchase application.
There are, however, monetary limits on the claims based on the authority, details of which you can find in the SB order 36/2020 dated 06.11.2020. The revised sanction limits for without production of legal evidence applicable for various authorities are as under.
- Sub –Postmasters of Lower selection grade post offices limit up to Rs.50000/,
- Sub-Post Masters of Higher selection grade (all non-gazetted ) SOs HPOs- limit up to Rs.100000/-, and
- Higher authorities like Senior Post Master, Chief Post Master, etc for the amount up to Rs. 5,00,000/-).
The claim application form in case of without production of evidence is the same form used for nomination is registered to be submitted along with (i) a Letter of indemnity signed by Claimant, sureties, Witnesses executed before Notary Public, (ii) an Affidavit signed by all legal heirs including claimant and executed before Notary Public/ Oath Commissioner, (iii) a Letter of disclaimer on Affidavit signed by All legal heirs excluding claimant and executed before Notary Public/ Oath Commissioner.
If the claim is exceeding Five lakh, claims can be settled by legal evidence i.e, by probate of will or succession certificate.
Eligibility of Interest on claim settlement
| Sr.No. | Scheme | Option |
| 1 | SB | Up to the month preceding the month in which refund is made |
| 2 | RD | Up to 11 months deposit made will be refunded 12 months and above interest applicable for completed years |
| 3 | TD | For completed years interest applicable for completed years (CI), completed months SB rate of interest (SI) |
| 4 | MIS | Up to the month preceding the month in which refund is made If claimed after maturity bonus/PMI is eligible |
| 5 | PPF | Up to the month preceding the month in which refund is made |
| 6 | SCSS | Up to the date of death of the depositor, the interest rate applicable to SCSS, and after that SB interest is applicable. |
| 7 | SSA | Up to the date of death interest shall be paid as applicable to scheme. Interest for the period between the date of death of the account holder and date of closure of the account shall be paid at the rate applicable on Post Office Savings Account for the balance held in the account. |
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