In the month of May, the Department of Posts informed of the amendment of the powers of various authorities to sanction claims made by heirs of deceased account holders with respect to post office savings schemes, including certificates, in cases where no nomination was made or no legal evidence was available/provided.

The order issued specifies how long the authorities should wait before sanctioning payment of the investment to the deceased's heir.

In an addendum dated 29 August 2019, the revised rules were extended to be applied on PPF (Public Provident Fund) and Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) with immediate effect.

The revised rules allow heirs of the deceased depositor to make claims of the investment in cases where there was no nomination made or if the claim is being made without producing legal evidence. These claims can be made after completion of 6 months from the time of death of the depositor. There are, however, monetary limits on the claims based on the authority, details of which you can find in the complete order here.

The order also said that the order will be applicable to all core banking services (CBS) and non-CBS post offices. The provisions will be applicable on claims that are not yet submitted or claims are already submitted but not sanctioned.