New Delhi, April 8: An investor is not entitled to receive any money if his Indira Vikas Patra is lost or stolen, the Supreme Court has ruled.

“An Indira Vikas Patra is akin to an ordinary currency note. It bears no name of the holder. Just as a lost currency note cannot be replaced, similarly the question of replacing a lost Indira Vikas Patra does not arise,” a division bench headed by Justice Arijit Passayat said, while allowing a batch of appeals by the Centre.

The bench said as there is no legal provision allowing the replacement of “lost, stolen, mutilated, defaced or destroyed” Indira Vikas Patras, the maturity amount for lost certificates cannot be claimed.

According to regulations, claims can be made only after presenting the certificate and signing in the space provided at the back.

The government had moved the apex court against some high court orders directing payments to those who had lost their Indira Vikas Patras. It wanted the Supreme Court to settle the law on this matter as a large number of such claims had been made.

In one of the impugned orders, the high court had ruled that if the loss of an Indira Vikas Patra was bonafide and there was no attempt to defeat the interest of postal authorities, the original holder should be paid the maturity amount if there are no other claimants.