A public interest plea in the Delhi High Court highlights the necessity for a centralized platform to monitor financial assets across various regulatory entities. The court acknowledged the issue but refrained from intervening. The plea addresses trapped funds in inoperative accounts, urging authorities to create guidelines for nominee details and ensure the recovery of unclaimed assets.
New Delhi: A PIL filed in the Delhi High Court has brought attention to the need for a centralized platform where individuals can view their financial assets—whether active, inactive, dormant, or inoperative—across all entities regulated by authorities like the RBI, SEBI, and IRDAI.
The division bench, led by the Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru, acknowledged the importance of the issue raised. However, the bench refrained from judicial intervention, leaving the matter for consideration by the relevant authorities.
The Court observed that 9.22 crore bank accounts have become inoperative, holding an average balance of Rs 3,918 per account. These funds largely belong to people from poor or low-middle-income backgrounds. Additionally, a staggering Rs 3.5 lakh crore remains unclaimed across various financial entities due to the lack of readily available information about dormant accounts.
In many cases, the account holders have passed away, leaving their legal heirs unaware of the balances. This issue, compounded by the absence of nominee details, has resulted in trapped funds and prevented rightful beneficiaries from recovering assets.
Social activist Aakash Goel, who filed the plea, has sought:
- The creation of a centralized portal to list all financial assets linked to individuals, accessible through e-KYC procedures.
- Guidelines mandating regulated entities to capture nominee details for each financial asset.
- Directions to authorities, including the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, National Savings Institute, EPFO, and PFRDA, to ensure transparency and facilitate rightful recovery of unclaimed assets.
The plea also emphasizes the need to differentiate between “inoperative” accounts (those with no activity for a specific period) and “unclaimed” accounts, as these distinctions impact ownership and recovery rights.
The petition draws attention to three significant funds:
- DEAF (Depositor Education and Awareness Fund): Holds unclaimed bank deposits.
- IEPF (Investor Education and Protection Fund): Contains unclaimed investor funds.
- SCWF (Senior Citizens Welfare Fund): Utilized for public welfare under the Finance Act, 2015.
Notably, while the SCWF serves public welfare purposes, the DEAF and IEPF, holding over Rs 1.6 lakh crore, remain underutilized. This amount is nearly three times India’s health budget and double the education budget, underscoring the need for a structured policy to unlock these resources.
The plea argues that the failure to address unclaimed funds violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, which ensure equality and the right to life. The petitioner urges authorities to fulfill their statutory duty of protecting depositors, investors, and policyholders, ensuring rightful recovery of assets.
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