Punjab National Bank [PNB] — Locker

Address:

Mumbai City, Maharashtra, 400056

We have a locker (safety vault) in PNB Bank in Mumbai. We hold this locker for last 25 years. During the last 25 years, we didn’t have any Fixed Deposit or Savings account in this bank.

However due to insistence of the Bank, we opened a savings account and an FD last year, even though the savings account remains inoperative.

There is a financial emergency in our family and we wrote to the bank to terminate the FD and release the funds. The Bank Manager refuses to accept the letter saying that if FD is terminated then the locker also needs to be surrendered.

1) Is this valid argument.
2) Can an individual own a locker without having an FD or Savings Account.
3) Is the maintenance of Savings Account and FD, if you own a locker, mandated as per RBI policies.