#THE POST OFFICE CASH CERTIFICATES ACT, 1917 

(Modified as on 3rd December, 2018) 
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###ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1. Short title. 
2. Prohibition of transfer of Post Office 5-year Cash Certificates without the consent of an 
  authorised officer. 
3. Payment on death of holder of Post Office 5-year Cash Certificate. 



#THE POST OFFICE CASH CERTIFICATES ACT, 1917 

##ACT NO. 18 OF 1917
[^1] 

[19th September, 1917.] 

An Act  to  restrict  the  transfer  of  Post  Office  5-year  Cash  Certificates  and  to  provide  for 
  the payment of Certificates standing in the name of deceased persons. 

  WHEREAS it is expedient to restrict the transfer of Post Office 5-year Cash Certificates and to provide 
for  the  payment  of  certificates  standing  in  the  name  of  deceased  persons;  It  is  hereby  enacted  as 
follows:— 

1. **Short title.**—This Act may be called the Post Office Cash Certificates Act, 1917. 

2. **Prohibition  of  transfer  of  Post  Office  5-year  Cash  Certificates  without  the  consent 
of an authorised officer.**—(1) Notwithstanding any provision in any enactment or any rule of 
law  for  the  time  being  in  force  to  the  contrary,  no  transfer  (whether  made  before  or  after  the 
commencement of this Act) of a Post Office 5-year Cash Certificate shall be valid without the 
previous consent in writing of an officer  of  the  Post  Office  authorised  by  general  or  special 
order of the Central Government in that behalf.

  (2) In this section “transfer” means a transfer infer vivos and does not include a transfer by operation 
of law. 

3. **Payment on death of holder of Post Office 5-year Cash Certificate.**—(1) If a person dies 
and is at the time of his death the holder of a Post Office 5-year Cash Certificate, payment of the 
sum  for  the  time  being  due  on  such  certificate  may  be  made  in  the  ma nner  provided  in  the 
Government  Savings  Banks  Act,  1873  (5  of  1873),  for  the  payment  of  deposits  belonging  to  the 
estates  of  deceased  persons,  and  the  provisions  of  sections  4  to  9  of  the  said  Act  shall  apply 
accordingly  as  if  the  holder  of  such  certificate  were  a  depositor  in  a  Government  Savings  Bank 
and the sum  for the time being due on such certificate were a deposit in such a Bank and  as  if 
for  the  words  “three  thousand”  in section 8 of  the  said  Act  the  words  “five  thousand”  were 
substituted: 

  Provided that the powers conferred by the said provisions on the Secretary of a Government 
Savings Bank shall be exercisable by the Post Master General for the area within which the post 
office  of  issue  of  such  certificate  is  situate or  if  that  area  is  in  Pakistan,  by  the  Post  Master 
General for such area in India as the Central Government may by general or special order specify 
in this behalf: 

  Provided  further  that,  where  in  any  one  case  payment  is  to  be  made  of  certificates  issued 
from more post offices than one, the said powers shall be exercisable by the Post Master General 
for the area in which any of the said post offices is situate. 

(2) Nothing  in  sub-section  (1)  shall  be  deemed  to  require  any  person  to  accept  payment  of 
the amount due on a Post Office 5-year Cash Certificate before the same has reached maturity. 



[^1]. This Act has been extended to Bern by the  Berar Laws Act, 1941.(4 of 1941) and has been declared to be in force 
in the Khondmals District by the Khondmals Laws Regulation.  1936 (4 of 1936), s. 3 and Sch,; and in the Angul 
District by the Angul Laws Regulation. 1936 (5 of 1936), s. 3 and Sch.  It has also been applied to Porahat Estate 
in the district•of Singhbhum by the Porahat Estate Laws Regulation, 1945 (Bihar Reg. 1 of 1945). 

This  Act  has  been  extended  with  effect  from  1 -9-1962  to  the  Union  territory  of  Goa,  Daman  and  Diu,  vide 
Notification No. S.O. 2734, dated 1-9-1962, see Gazette of India. Extraordinary. Pt. II. s. 3(ii), p. 1991. 
It  has  been  extended  and  brought  into  force  in  Dadra  and  Nagar  Haveli  by  Reg.  6  of  1963,  s.  2  and  Sch.  I  and 
comes into force in Pondicherry on 1-10-1963 vide Reg. 7 of 1963. s. 3 and Sch. I. 