The Kerala High Court has directed the post-office authorities to disburse in a month to a domestic help the amount deposited by her under the time deposit scheme with full interest till the date of withdrawal of the deposit.
The court also ordered the postal authorities to pay her ₹5,000 as litigation cost.
Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan passed the directives while allowing a writ petition filed by one Saroja, a domestic help from Thiruvananthapuram, claiming interest on a deposit of ₹20,000 that she could not renew as she was not aware of the maturity date.
The post-office authorities rejected her request for full interest till the disbursal of the amount. The petitioner contended that as per the Post Office Time Deposit (Amendment) Rules, 2014, the petitioner was entitled to receive interest on the deposit till its withdrawal even if the deposit was not renewed periodically.
The post-office authorities contended that the amended rule was applicable to the post offices working on the Core Banking Solution (CBS) platform. The one where she had deposited the amount had not migrated to the platform.
The court said the migration to CBS platform was something connected with the internal infrastructure of the post office. A poor depositor need not suffer because of the same, it added.
