Petitioner claims someone else cashed out savings certificates

National Savings Centre officials say the claims are baseless.

KARACHI: Decades ago, when Revo Mal had purchased defence saving certificates, he thought that he was saving money for future generations. However, four of his grandchildren are now running from pillar to post, so that they can derive benefits from their grandfather’s investment, as it appears that someone else has cashed out the certificates.

Ashok, the oldest among his siblings, then decided to sue the National Savings Centre (NSC), which issues the certificates. Ashok stated in his petition that his grandfather, Revo Mal, had purchased the defence saving certificates and handed them over to his son, Achar (Ashok’s father), before his death. However, when Achar was serving prison time, for a land dispute, in 2001, someone else cashed out the certificates. NSC failed to determine the validity of the person who presented the certificates, alleged Ashok.

However, NSC Kandiaro officials Muhammad Nawaz Rajpar and Nazir Hussain Shah told the Sindh High Court that there were no documents that corroborated the petitioner’s claim that his father was behind bars in March 2004, when the certificates were cashed out.

SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam, who was heading the bench, directed the petitioner to produce documents that establishes that his father was in custody during that time.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2012.