safe deposit locker or safe custody article facilities to those who do not have any banking relationship with the organisation should maintain customer due diligence records of those clients as well. Moreover, banks are required to keep record of vacant lockers at each of its branches, and maintain a wait-list in its core banking system or any other computerised system which is compliant with the RBI’s cyber-security framework. This regulation was introduced with the aim of ensuring transparency in the allotment of lockers.
In the matter of liability of damages, the central bank said: “The banks shall put in place a detailed Board approved policy outlining the responsibility owed by them for any loss or damage to the contents of the lockers due to their negligence as banks owe a separate duty of care to exercise due diligence in maintaining and operating their locker or safety deposit systems.”
While the bank may not be liable for any damages caused by natural disasters or acts of God, the revised guidelines specify that in the case of any damage caused by an employee, the bank’s liability shall be valued at one hundred times the prevailing annual rent of the locker.
