Pension Payment to Central/ State Govt. Pensioners by Agency Banks-Compensation for delay

 

Reserve Bank of India is receiving several complaints from the pensioners alleging inordinate delay in disbursing the revised pension and arrears. Position was reviewed by RBI and the agency banks have been instructed as under:

1. Pension paying banks should compensate the pensioner for the delay in crediting the pension/ arrears thereof by paying compensation at a fixed interest rate of 8 per cent for the delay after the due date 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.
2. Pension paying banks have been requested 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 RBI so that pensioners should get the benefits announced by the Governments in the succeeding month's pension payment itself.
3. System of attending to customer service including pension payments may be reviewed.
4. The branch continues to be a point of referral for the pensioner lest he/she feel disenfranchised.
5. All branches having pension accounts should guide and assist the pensioners in alltheir dealings with the bank
6. Suitable arrangements are made to place the arithmetic and other details about the pension calculations on the web, to be made available to the pensioners through the net or at the branches at periodic interval as may be necessary and sufficientadvertisement is made about such arrangements.
7. All claims for agency commission in respect of pension payments must be ccompanied by a certificate from E.D. / CGM- in- Charge of Government business in case of SBI and its Associate Banks that there are no pension arrears to be credited/ delays in crediting regular pension/arrears thereof.
 
(Ref. DO.No.CSD.CO/8793/13.01.001/2009-10 d/d April 09, 2010,                                          DGBA.GAD.No.H- 46/45.01.001/2010-11 d/d July 2, 2010,
DGBA.GAD.No.H- 6212 & 6213/45.01.001/2010-11 d/d March 11, 2011
and DGBA.GAD.No.H- 6760/45.01.001/2011-12 d/d April 13, 2012)
 
(Source-RBI Website)