Your help was fundamental, but I happened to have fixed it by another approach...check it out:
#%PAM-1.0
# This file is auto-generated.
# User changes will be destroyed the next time authconfig is run.
auth required pam_env.so
# The below line is used to lock an account if user failed to authenticate 5 times and will be locked for 60 secs.
auth required pam_tally.so onerr=fail deny=4 per_user unlock_time=1800
auth sufficient pam_unix.so nullok try_first_pass
auth requisite pam_succeed_if.so uid >= 500 quiet
auth required pam_deny.so
account required pam_unix.so
# The below line is required for account lockout due to failed login attempt
account required pam_tally.so reset
account sufficient pam_succeed_if.so uid < 500 quiet
account required pam_permit.so
And it worked.
Thanx a lot for your help.