New Delhi, Oct 6: The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SEBI, the Centre, and other authorities on a plea seeking the establishment of a centralised portal to access a comprehensive list of all financial assets — whether active, inactive, dormant, or inoperative — held across entities.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta agreed to hear the petition and issued notices to the authorities, posting the matter for hearing after four weeks.
The plea, filed by Aakash Goel, focuses on the interests of small investors and depositors, highlighting that ₹3.5 lakh crore of funds remain unreturned to rightful owners. The petitioner’s counsel informed the court that a high court had previously acknowledged the importance of the issue but refrained from judicial intervention.
The petition seeks directions to:
Issue guidelines to regulated entities to capture minimum details about nominees for each financial asset.
Establish a system, in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Department of Food and Public Distribution, to identify deceased account holders and appropriately notify their family members when financial assets lack designated nominees.
Create a centralised portal enabling individuals, upon completing e-KYC requirements, to access a complete list of all their financial assets across entities regulated by the respective authorities.
The bench will review the responses from RBI, SEBI, and other stakeholders in the next hearing.
(Agencies)
