The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has updated its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section. It has answered whether a pensioner can withdraw pension from his/ her account when he/she is not able to sign or put thumb/toe impression or unable to be present in the bank. The RBI states that pensioners can do so. However, there are certain criteria that need to be met. RBI has issued instructions to pension disbursing banks to allow withdrawal of pension by following certain procedures.

The procedures are given below:

Withdrawal of pension by old/ sick/ disabled/ incapacitated pensioners.

(i) In order to take care of problems/ difficulties faced by sick and disabled pensioners in withdrawal of pension / family pension from the banks, agency banks may categorise such pensioners as under:

(a) Pensioner who is too ill to sign a cheque / unable to be physically present in the bank.

(b) Pensioner who is not only unable to be physically present in the bank but also not even able to put his/her thumb impression on the cheque/ withdrawal form due to certain physical defect / incapacity.

(ii) With a view to enabling such old/sick/incapacitated pensioners to operate their accounts, banks may follow the procedure as under:

(a) Wherever thumb or toe impression of the old/sick pensioner is obtained, it should be identified by two independent witnesses known to the bank, one of whom should be a responsible bank official.

(b) Where the pensioner cannot even put his/her thumb/ toe impression and also would not be able to be physically present in the bank, a mark can be obtained on the cheque/withdrawal form, which should be identified by two independent witnesses, one of whom should be a responsible bank official.

RBI has mandated that the responsible bank official has to be from the same bank, where the pensioner is having his/her pension account.

Furthermore, agency banks have been asked to display the instructions issued in this regard on their notice board at the branches. This has been requested so that sick and disabled pensioners can make use of these facilities.