Finance ministry clarifies LGBTQ persons can open joint bank accounts

New Delhi: The Union finance ministry made it clear on Wednesday that opening joint bank accounts and designating a person in a queer relationship as a nominee is not restricted for members of the LGBTQ community.

The Department of Financial Services released the advisory on social media on Thursday in response to the Supreme Court's October ruling on a number of appeals seeking same-sex marriage recognition.

The Supreme Court ordered the central government and state governments to make sure that members of the LGBT community are not subjected to discrimination because of who they are, even as it refused to legalise same-sex unions, Scroll.in reported.

“This is to clarify that there are no restrictions for persons of the queer community to open a joint bank account and also to nominate a person in the queer relationship as a nominee to receive the balance in the account, in the event of death of the account holder,” the advisory said.

The Reserve Bank of India sent banks a clarification on August 21 in this regard, the department continued. In accordance with the court's decision, the Centre appointed a cabinet secretary-led committee consisting of six members in April to handle issues pertaining to the LGBT community.

The committee's tasks included reviewing procedures to stop discrimination against LGBTQ people when they seek services and developing measures to shield the queer community from violence, coercion, and harassment.

In order to make it easier for transgender people to open bank accounts and use related services, the Reserve Bank of India gave banks instructions in 2015 to include a separate "third gender" option in their forms and applications, according to PTI.