SB ORDER NO. 9 /2013
F.No.25-10/2005-FS (Vol-III)
Government of India
Ministry of Communications & IT
Department of Posts
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi-110001.
Date: 24.05.2013
To
All Heads of Circles/Regions
Addl. Director General, APS, New Delhi.
Subject:- Introduction of “Basic Savings Account” under Post Office Savings Account Rule 1981 to facilitate opening of Zero Balance Accounts by beneficiaries of any Government Welfare Scheme-regarding.
Sir / Madam,
The undersigned is directed to say that Ministry of Finance (DEA) vide its notification F.No. 2/6/2006-NS-II dated 20.5.2011 has introduced another category of savings account called “Basic Savings Account” under newly inserted Rule4A (1) of Post Office Savings Account Rules 1981 to facilitate opening of Zero Balance Accounts by beneficiaries of any Government Welfare Scheme and renamed all “Workers Wage Accounts” opened under Rule 4A of POSA Rules 1981 as well as all Old Age/Widow/Disabled Pensioners Accounts opened under Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and Indira Gandhi National Disabled Pension Scheme vide Rule 4B of POSA Rules 1981 as “Basic Savings Accounts” from 20.5.2013. Rule 4B of POSA Rules 1981 has been deleted from 20.5.2013. Copy of notification is attached. Printed Gazette Notification will follow. Main features of Basic Savings Account as mentioned in the notification and the procedure to be followed for opening and operating these accounts is given below:-
a) A registered adult member of any Government Welfare scheme can open Basic Savings Account at any Post Office including EDBO.
b) A guardian of a minor whose name is registered for any Government Welfare Scheme can also open Basic Savings Account at any Post Office including EDBO.
c) Only one account can be opened by the beneficiary and guardian of beneficiary.
d) No minimum amount will be required to open such account and no minimum balance needs to be maintained in such account.
e) Any Government benefit and any other deposit can be made in these accounts.
f) These accounts will be governed by Post Office Savings Account Rules 1981 thereby have all the facilities that have been provided for normal Savings Account except that these will be non-cheque accounts.
g) A separate block of account numbers will be allotted to this category of account. In Post Offices where Separate Block numbers have already been allotted for Zero Balance NREGS accounts, Basic Savings Accounts shall be opened in those blocks.
h) Only a single account may be opened under this category. However, existing Joint ‘A’ Workers Wage Accounts (if opened) may continue as Joint ‘A’ Basic Savings Accounts.
i) The depositor who desires to open Basic Savings Account under this category has to provide copy of letter/card issued by a competent authority of any State or Central Government Department mentioning name of beneficiary under any welfare scheme. No account will be opened without providing this information.
j) The Branch/Sub/Head Postmaster will compare copy of this document with the original under his/her dated signatures. In addition to this, the depositor has to provide one document as Address Proof from the documents prescribed for Low Risk Accounts and photograph(s) as required for Low Risk Category of Accounts mentioned in Master Circular No.1.
k) While opening new accounts, scheme code and Registration/Enrollment/Reference number of the beneficiary contained in letter/card issued by competent authority of any State or Central Government or Letter/Card number and date should be entered in the field provided for entering Job Card No. in the Account Opening Screen of NREGS Module of Sanchay Post till new fields are provided. Scheme codes of different schemes are enclosed. This information should also be entered on the Account Opening form (SB-3).
l) In case of post offices not working on Sanchaya Post, all this information should be noted in SS Book as well as Ledger of that office also.
m) If beneficiary of any scheme other than the listed schemes comes for opening of Basic Savings Account or any State Government desires to disburse any social welfare benefit through post offices, name of that scheme can be shared with SDC Chennai to get new code.
n) Wherever the beneficiary is having Aadhaar number, it should also be taken and entered in the tool provided by SDC Chennai till a new field is provided for the same in account opening form in Sanchaya Post. Aadhaar number when taken, should also be noted on the Account Opening Form (SB-3) and on SS Book as well as Ledger (in case of non-Sanchaya post offices). In such cases, copy of letter/card issued by UIDAI should be obtained and attached with Account Opening Form and no other Address Proof will be required if address mentioned in Aadhaar number and SB-3 is one and the same.
o) All other formalities applicable to normal savings account i.e Specimen Signatures, issue of PR in EDBO, issue of passbook etc. should be followed.
p) Interest will be calculated and credited in such accounts by following the normal procedure laid down for savings accounts.
q) These accounts will be treated as silent as per normal rules and in case balance is below Rs.50/- at the time of the account becomes silent, service charge at the prescribed rate will also be deducted and in case balance is below Rs.20/- or Nil, before or after deduction of service charge, the account will be closed at the time of charging service charge and account holder should be informed.
r) All existing Zero balance Accounts opened either under NREGS Module of Sanchaya Post or opened manually for NREGA Workers or Indira Gandhi National Old Age/Widow/Disability Pensioners as Zero Balance Accounts will be renamed as “Basic Savings Accounts”. Existing NREGS Module of Sanchaya Post will be modified and renamed as “Basic Savings Account Module by SDC Chennai to support all above features. All new Basic Savings Accounts should be opened under this module only.
s) Deposits/Withdrawals and other transactions will remain in the LOT of Savings Account. Separate List of Transactions of Basic Savings Account can be printed through DBA for the purpose of generation of reports.
2. It is therefore requested that this may be brought to the notice of all post offices for information and necessary guidance.
Your faithfully,
Kawaljit Singh
Assistant Director (SB)
Encl As above
—————–
[To be published in Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part-II, Section-3, Sub-section OA
Ministry of Finance
(Department of Economic Affairs)
New Delhi, the 117th May, 2013
NOTIFICATION
G.S.R………….. (E) – In exercise of the powers conferred by section 15 of the Government Savings Bank Act, 1873 (5 of 1873), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Post Office Savings Account Rules, 1981, namely:-
1. (1) These rules may be called the Post Office Savings Account (Amendment) Rules, 2013.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
2. In Post Office Savings Account Rules, 1981 (hereinafter referred to as the said rules), for rule 4A, following rule shall be substituted, namely :-
“4A(1) Basic Saving Account and matters connected therewith.— Notwithstanding anything contained in rules 4 and 5, and with the objective of facilitating payment of various Government benefits transferred under different schemes of Central and State Governments, the beneficiaries of any such scheme may open and operate Basic Saving Account and the Deposits required for opening of such account, etc. and other matters connected therewith shall be specified in the Table below, namely:—
|
Type of account |
Who may open the account |
Deposit required for opening of account |
Number of accounts that can be opened |
Type of deposits that can be made into the account |
Minimum balance to be maintained in the account |
Who may operate the account |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
| Basic Saving Account | (i) Registered adult member of any Government Welfare Scheme.(ii) Guardian of a minor whose name is registered for any Government Benefit. |
Nil |
One |
Any Government benefit or any other deposit under the rules. |
Nil |
(i) An individual adult whose name is registered for any Government Welfare Scheme.(ii) A guardian of any minor whose name is registered under any Government Welfare Scheme. |
(2) Any Savings Account opened under rules 4A and 4B as they stood prior to the date commencement of these rules shall be deemed to be a Basic Savings Account under these rules.”
3. In the said rules, rule 4B shall be omitted.
[F. No. 2/6/2006-NS-II]
(RAJAT BHARGAYA)
Joint Secretary to the Government India
Note : The principal rules were published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary Part-II, Section 3, Sub-section (i) vide number G.S.R. 663 (E), dated 17th December,1981, and subsequently amended vide number —
1) G.S.R. 8 (E), dated the 2nd January, 1987;
2) G.S.R. 948 (E), dated the 2nd December, 1987;
3) G.S.R. 5 (E), dated the 5th January, 1989;
4) G.S.R. 430 (E), dated the 6th April, 1989;
5) G.S.R. 695 (E), dated the 17th July, 1989;
6) G.S.R. 813 (E), dated the 4th September, 1989;
7) G.S.R. 1001(E), dated the 8th November, 1989;
8) G.S.R. 499 (E), dated the 8th July, 1993;
9) G.S.R. 165 (E), dated the 28th February, 2000;
10) G.S.R. 349 (E), dated the 10th May, 2002;
11) G.S.R. 431 (E), dated the 14th June, 2002;
12) G.S.R. 587 (E), dated the 25th July, 2003;
13) G.S.R. 286 (E), dated the 13th May, 2005;
1.4) G.S.R. 509 (E), dated the 27th July, 2005;
15) G.S.R. 481 (E), dated the 11th July, 2007;
16) G.S.R. 478 (E), dated the 26th June, 2008;
17) G.S.R. 611 (E), dated the 26th August, 2008;
18) G.S.R. 748 (E), dated the 13th October, 2009;
19) G.S.R. 882 (E), dated the 3rd November, 2010; and
20) G.S.R. 926 (E), dated the 24th December, 2012.
| Name of Welfare Scheme | Code |
| NREGA joint | NJ |
| NREGA single | NS |
| Indira Gandhi National Old age pension Scheme – | AP |
| Indira Gandhi National Widow pension Scheme | WP |
| Indira Gandhi National Disability pension Scheme | DP |
| Post Matric Scholarship for SC Students | JS |
| Pre-Matric Scholarship for SC Students. | JM |
| Pre-Matric Scholarship for Children of those engaged in unclean occupation | JU |
| Upgradation of merit of SC Students. | JG |
| Post Matric Scholarship for OBCs. | JO |
| Top Class Education Scheme. | JT |
| Scholarship to Universities/College Students. | HC |
| Fellowship Schemes of UGC. | HF |
| Fellowship Schemes of AICTE. | HE |
| National Means cum Merit Scholarship. | HM |
| National Scheme for Incentive for the girl child for secondary education. | HG |
| Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for ST Students. | TM |
| Top Class Education System. | TT |
| Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship. | TF |
| Matric Scholarship Scheme. | MM |
| Maulana Azad National Fellowship. | MF |
| Merit cum Means Scholarship Scheme. | MS |
| Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY). | WI |
| Dhanalakshmi Scheme. | WD |
| Janani Suraksha Yojana. | FJ |
| Scholarship to the Children of beedi workers. | LC |
| Housing subsidy to beedi workers. | LH |
| Stipend to children in the special schools under the Child Labour Project | LL |
| Stipend to trainees under the Scheme of Welfare of SC/ST job seekers through Coaching, Guidance and Vocational Training. | LJ |
| Payment of stipend to trainees under the Scheme of Skill Development in 34 Districts affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE). | LE |
| LPG Gas Subsidy | PG |
