SC Issues Notices to Government Agencies in Response to Sucheta Dalal’s Plea

Sucheta Dalal law insider inSucheta Dalal law insider in

Siddhi Sharma

Published on: 13th August 2022 at 18:04 IST

The Supreme Court of India has urged responses from the Centre, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in relation to a plea seeking the setting up of a centralised website which would provide information about the money lying in dormant accounts. This would make it easier for the legal heirs to claim the same.

The plea was filed by renowned journalist Sucheta Dalal through Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan. Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan informed the court that these funds get transferred to and get stuck in government-owned funds like the Depositor’s Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF), Investor’s Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), and Senior Citizen Welfare Fund(SCWF).

The plea says that these funds have crossed INR 40,000 crore and claimants should be allowed to access this money.

The petition said, “Funds from the inoperative or dormant bank accounts that are transferred to the Depositors’ Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) often remain unclaimed because the legal heirs or nominees of the deceased bank account holders are unaware of the very existence of the bank accounts of the deceased and the banks fail to track down and inform them about its existence.”

The plea states an urgent need for the RBI to develop a centralised database which would store information about deceased account-holders. This would create a hassle-free process for such claims.

Sucheta Dalal, a renowned journalist, exposed the Harshad Mehta Scam in 1999. She was awarded the Padma Shri for journalism in 2006.

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