Procedure when a prize bond is lost, etc.- (1)(a) Every application for the issue of a duplicate bond in place of a prize bond which is alleged to have been lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced shall be addressed to the Public Debt Office and shall be accompanied by a registration fee of Re.1 per bond and a statement of the following particulars namely:-(i)particulars of the number and value of the prize bond and the loan to which it belongs;(ii)the name of the office at which the bond was purchased;(iii)the circumstances attending the loss, theft, destruction, mutilation or defacement and(iv)whether the loss or theft was reported to the police.(b)Such application shall be accompanied by:-(i)Post Office registration receipt for the letter containing the prize bond if lost in transmission by registered post;(ii)A copy of the police report if the loss or theft was reported to the police. 19(iii)An affidavit sworn before a Magistrate testifying that the applicant was the last legal holder of the bond and(iv)Any portion or fragments which may remain of the lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced prize bond.(2)The loss, theft, destruction, mutilation or defacement of a prize bond shall be further notified by the applicant [in the following manner:-(a)in the case of prize bond of the Central Government, in the Gazette of India and the local Official Gazette, if any, of the place where the loss, theft, destruction, mutilation or defacement occurred, and(b)in the case of prize band of a State Government, in the Official Gazette of that state and of the loss, theft, destruction, mutilation or defacement occurred at a place outside that state also in the Official Gazette if any of such place]. Such notification shall be published in such issues of each Gazette, not exceeding three in the case of each, as may be directed by the Bank and shall be in the form following or as nearly in such form as circumstances permit:-"Lost" ( "stolen", "destroyed", mutilated " or "defaced" as the case may be).The Prize Bond No.............of the.............loan for the face value of Rs..............having been lost (stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced) notice is hereby given that application is about to be made to the Public Debt Office for the issue of a duplicate in favour of the undersigned.Name of the person notifyingResidence"(3)Where a prize bond is reported to be lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced the Bank shall on the expiry of six months from the date of the last notification prescribed in sub-rule (2) if prima facie ground exist for believing that the bond has been lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced and that the claim of the applicant is just cause the particulars of the bond so lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced to be included in a list such as is referred to in Rule 18 and shall pass a provisional order requiring the Public Debt Office, on the expiry of two years from the date of the publication as hereinafter provided of the list in which the lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced bond is first included and on the execution of an indemnity bond taken for twice the value of the bond [if an indemnity bond has not been executed under Rule 22 (8)] and unless reasons to the contrary appear (in which case the matter shall be referred back to the Bank) to issue to the applicant a duplicate bond:Provided that, if any prize is drawn but not paid in respect of a prize bond which is alleged to be lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated or defaced, the amount of such prize shall be invested in such Government securities as the Bank may deem fit and such securities shall be transferred to the applicant, at the time when the duplicate bond is issued, on the execution of an indemnity bond taken for twice the amount of the prize money.(4)A provisional order passed under sub-rule (3) shall, on the expiry of the two years referred to in that rule, become final;Provided that the Bank may at any time prior to the issue of a duplicate bond if it finds sufficient reasons, alter or cancel any such order, and may also direct that the interval before the issue of a duplicate bond shall be extended by such period, not exceeding two years, as it thinks fit.(5)In making any order under sub-rule (3), the Bank may direct that the indemnity bond be executed by the applicant alone or by the applicant and two sureties as the Bank may think fit.
