NEW DELHI: A document made to look like a government gazette notification is being shared on social media with the claim that "the Central Government has declared every Saturday a public holiday for all Public Sector Banks, including SBI." The claim is false.
Verdict: Fake. The Press Information Bureau's fact-check unit, PIB Fact Check, said on October 1 that the document is fake and that no such order has been issued.
"The document being circulated is fake," PIB Fact Check said, according to reports carried by the Free Press Journal, Punjab Kesari and Social News XYZ. "No such notification has been issued by Finance Ministry declaring every Saturday as public holiday for public sector banks."
The unit said the Department of Financial Services in the Finance Ministry had issued no such notification, and that the document falsely attributes the decision to the Central Government. It "does not represent any official government order", PIB said, and customers cannot rely on it to conclude that public sector bank branches will stay closed every Saturday, the Free Press Journal reported.
PIB urged people not to rely on unverified documents shared on social media, to check government-related information through official channels before forwarding it, and to flag suspicious content about the Central Government to PIB Fact Check.
Nothing has changed. Banks remain closed on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, and the other Saturdays are working days, Channel IAM reported on September 28. Branches are therefore open as usual on the first, third and fifth Saturdays unless a separate holiday applies.
The fake notice appeared days after Saturday holidays were genuinely in the news. Bank unions are demanding a five-day banking week, which would make every Saturday a holiday.
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of bank employee and officer unions, had called a three-day nationwide strike for September 28 to 30 over pending issues, including holidays on all Saturdays. Banks stayed open on Sunday, September 27, so that customers could finish their transactions ahead of the strike, and about 8 lakh bank officers and employees would have been involved, Channel IAM reported.
The strike was called off after the unions met the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) at 9.30 pm on September 27. The two sides agreed to set up a high-level committee of IBA and union representatives to examine the demand to declare the remaining Saturdays as holidays, explore alternatives and consult stakeholders, Outlook reported. Channel IAM said the committee is to consult stakeholders including customers before working towards a solution.
The committee will also take up changes to the Performance Linked Incentive scheme for officers in Scale IV and above, with proposals to go to the government, Outlook reported. The union circular deferring the strike, dated September 27, was signed by leaders of seven unions: C.H. Venkatachalam of AIBEA, Rupam Roy of AIBOC, L. Chandrasekhar of NCBE, Sanjay Khan of AIBOA, Debasish Basu Choudhary of BEFI, Prem Makker of INBOC and O.P. Sharma of INBEF.
In other words, the five-day week has not been approved. A committee has only been agreed to study it, and any change to bank holidays would come through an official notification, not a document forwarded on social media.
Government orders on bank holidays are issued through official channels. Before sharing a document like this one, check whether it appears on official government websites or has been reported by PIB, and report anything suspicious to PIB Fact Check.
