If you thought that keeping all your valuables in a bank locker was the best way to keep them safe, the idea may not be 100 percent foolproof. Sure, it might be better to keep them in safe deposit boxes in banks than your home, but in case there is a theft or burglary in the bank, customers cannot expect the bank to compensate them for the loss, the Reserve Bank of India has said.
The RBI and 19 other PSU banks clearly explained that the bank is not liable for the customer's loss while responding to an RTI application filed by lawyer Kush Kalra on the same. The 19 banks have noted that "the relationship they have with customers with regard to lockers is that of lessee (landlord) and lessor (tenant)". Like a landlord is not liable for a theft at the tenant's place, a bank also has no obligation to compensate the customers for any case of theft at the bank.
Now, Kalra has moved the Competition Commission of India and has accused the banks of "cartelisation" and "anti-competitive practices," reported the Press Trust of India.
However, the banks in fact clearly mention in the agreement that the valuables stored in the lockers are at the customer's own risk and it is up to them to get these valuables insured.
"As per safe deposit memorandum of hiring locker, the bank will not be responsible for any loss or damage of the contents kept in the safe deposit vault as a result of any act of war or civil disorder or theft or burglary and the contents will be kept by the hirer at his or her sole risk and responsibility," most bank agreements usually state.
"While the bank will exercise all such normal precautions, it does not accept any liability or responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever sustained to items deposited with it. Accordingly, hirers are advised in their own interest to insure any item of value deposited in a safe deposit locker in the bank."
Kalra has now questioned that if the bank is not liable for any loss and customer's can keep the valuables in safe deposit boxes at their own risk, why not keep them at home instead and get them insured? The lawyer has now requested a probe into the matter under the Competition Act.
