The grievance redressal policy to be filed in all cases with the Authority or the National Pension System Trust needs to adhere to the following minimum conditions, namely:-
(a) every intermediary under the National Pension System and any other pension scheme regulated by the Authority shall designate a senior management level officer as Grievance Redressal Officer for compliance of the requirements laid down in such policy. In addition, every branch or authorized office or centre other than the central or head or corporate or principal office dealing with National Pension System or any other pension scheme regulated by the Authority shall also have an officer nominated as the Grievance Redressal Officer for that office or centre;
(b) every intermediary under the National Pension System and any other pension scheme regulated by the Authority shall have a clearly defined system and procedure for receiving, registering, acknowledging and effectively disposing off of grievances received in a prompt and fair manner;
(c) every intermediary under the National Pension System and any other pension scheme regulated by the Authority must inform a subscriber at the commencement of relationship with the subscriber and at such other time when the information is likely to be required by the subscriber, of –
(i) the subscribers’ right to seek redressal of any complaints, through the redressal mechanism as specified under these regulations; and
(ii) the processes followed by the intermediaries under the National Pension System and other pension scheme regulated by the Authority, to receive and redress complaints from subscribers;
(d) the grievance redressal policies would need to conform to the benchmarks and standards as laid down or amended by the Authority from time to time. These benchmarks may include inter alia resolution time for agrievance, service quality, manner of receiving grievances, number of outstanding grievances against intermediaries under the National Pension System or any other pension scheme and any other matters which in the opinion of the Authority, are relevant for redressing such grievances;
(e) details of turnaround times shall be clearly laid down in the two level grievance redressal policy to be filed with the Authority by the Intermediaries or respective Government or any other entity governed by the provisions of the Act;
(f) every two level grievance redressal policy to be filed with the Authority shall be placed in the public domain and preferably displayed in Hindi, English and other applicable regional languages in its office by each intermediary under the National Pension System and by any other pension scheme regulated by the Authority.