My mother had a few fixed deposits and one SB with Bank Of Baroda. She had told us (Children) that all were with valid nominations. However, she had handed over the FD receipts to the bank staff for renewal in Q3-2010. The amounts are not very large (around 2lakhs)
Two months ago, my mother passed away. When we went to the bank to claim the FD/SB, to our shock we found that the FD/SB were in her single name and no nominations existed. Further the bank has done the following which I think is very wrong:
- refused to pay on Joint FD (has no E or S clause), RBI says the survivor will automatically become the owner. Baroda seems to think otherwise
- Dumped about 20-30 sheets of forms on us. Notarized Indemnity form, Claim form, NOC, death cert are understandable. The documents asked include horrible requirements such as
* two sureties who must reveal their total assets as well as provide their last year's IT returns
* Form 135 - Particulars to be supplied by the applicant for ADVANCES - funny we are not taking any loans or advances from the bank !
* Succession/survivor certificate
Have they gone mad?
Legally (or as per RBI) what are the docs needed?
I have scanned Bank of Baroda website as well as RBI site.
http://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/English/scriptts/Notification.aspx
http://www.bankofbaroda.com/pfs/dep_deceased.asp
Which clearly say that:
1. It is the responsibility of the bank to ensure nomination is done when a singly held account/fd is opened
2. Bank of Baroda website says:
In case where the deceased depositor had not made any nomination or for the accounts other than those styled as "either or survivor" (such as single or jointly operated accounts), bank has adopted a simplified procedure for repayment to legal heir(s) of the depositor keeping in view the imperative need to avoid inconvenience and undue hardship to the common person. In this context, bank has fixed up a minimum threshold limit, for the balance in the account of the deceased depositors, up to which claims in respect of the deceased depositors could be settled without insisting on production of any documentation other than a letter of indemnity. The thresh hold limits are enunciated in Bank’s Publication of Discretionary Administrative Powers for Domestic Operations, Item No. Point No.1.1 which may be exercised by the respective Branch Managers/Functional Heads.
I am planning to meet the bank manager and try to settle amicably. If he refuses, what are my legal options? What effect does complaining to RBI have? What documents do banks normally require?
Thanks & Regards
I have read
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