Whenever a subscriber is likely to be away from his premises and does not require the facility of a telephone, he may request the department to keep his telephone in the custody of the Department, to avoid any possible misuse by someone else. The instruments shall be recovered and kept under safe custody of the Department.

There are two categories of safe custody of telephone namely short-term and long-term safe custody.

SHORT-TERM SAFE CUSTODY: This facility is provided for a minimum period of 7 days and a maximum period is 90 days. Full rental will be collected during the period of safe custody. The application should be submitted to the Divisional Engineer in-charge of the exchange concerned. This facility is not applicable to the numbers connected to electronic exchanges where there is provision for dynamic locking of STD facility.

The restoration of short-term safe custody telephones will be done within a week of receipt of request, or the date specified by the subscriber whichever is later.

LONG-TERM SAFE CUSTODY: This facility is available to the subscribers connected to non-electronic exchanges and exchanges in which there is no provision for subscribers controlled STD facility and in this case the period of safe custody is more than 90 days. The subscribers connected to electronic exchanges having subscribers controlled STD facility, will be permitted to keep the telephone under safe custody, if the period of safe custody is more than six months. No request for a period of less than six months will be entertained. These subscribers can bar outgoing calls on their telephones themselves by using subscribers controlled STD facility. Those subscribers who do not have STD facility may avail the Dynamic Locking facility and bar the telephone for out-going calls. If the period of safe custody is more than six months, 40% of the normal rental will be collected for the period beyond six months along with the full rental for the first six months in advance. The telephone number and the cable pair will not be kept reserved. If the subscriber wants to reserve the number and the cable pair, full rental will be collected for the entire period of safe custody. Restoration of long-term safe custody telephones will be done on over-riding priority within one month of receipt of request.