Quick answer: If a DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) payment — scholarship, subsidy, pension or wage — shows as “paid” on PFMS but never reached your bank account, file an RTI to the department that sanctioned it. Ask for the payment date, the transaction / UTR reference, the bank account it was sent to, and the reason it failed if it bounced. The PIO must reply within 30 days.
Why a “paid” DBT payment never arrives
On the Public Financial Management System (PFMS), a benefit can show as paid even though it never reached you — because it went to an old, wrong or inactive account, the Aadhaar-bank seeding did not match, or the transfer bounced and was marked paid anyway. The portal rarely tells you which.
How an RTI helps
An RTI makes the disbursing department put the transaction details on record — the exact date, the UTR/reference number, and the account the money was sent to. That is what you need to prove non-receipt and get it re-issued to the correct account.
Who to send the RTI to
Send it to the department or directorate that sanctioned the benefit (the scholarship directorate, the scheme department, the rural development office for wages) — not your bank. The bank only executes what the department instructs.
What to ask in your RTI
- The date on which my [scholarship / subsidy / wage / pension], reference no. ________, was disbursed.
- The transaction / UTR reference number of that payment.
- The bank account number (last four digits) and IFSC to which it was sent.
- If the transfer failed or bounced, the reason and the date it was returned.
- The steps and the date by which it will be re-disbursed to my correct account.
Need a format? Adapt one from our Sample RTI Applications, or have us draft it for the right department.
If you get no reply in 30 days
No reply is a deemed refusal — file a First Appeal to a senior officer in the same department.
Want it filed to the correct disbursing authority? FileMyRTI drafts and files the RTI for you from ₹399.
Login With Google
Continue as Guest
Post a comment