Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has recently proposed a major change in the rules of bank locker. For this, she has introduced the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which proposes to increase the number of nominees of bank lockers.
According to the current rules, one nominee can be kept for a bank locker or joint bank locker, but now preparations are being made to increase it to 4.
The nominee of the bank locker (Bank Locker Nominee Rules) can take custody of the items kept in the locker after the death of the account holder. Under this bill, there will be two options to make 4 people nominees. In the first option, the right of the four nominees on the bank locker will be equal to the pre-decided share. In the second option, the nominee who is at the top of the nomination list will get priority. That is, on the death of the account holder, the first nominee will get the right to the bank locker. If the first nominee dies, the second nominee will be given priority.
What are the current rules regarding nominees?
- If the locker holder has nominated someone for his locker, then after his death the nominee has the right to open the locker and take out its contents. Banks give this access to the nominee after complete verification.
- If the nominee wishes, he can continue with the locker or change the locker or even close the locker by removing his belongings. However, to use the locker, the nominee has to apply to the bank along with the necessary documents.
- In case of a joint locker, if one person dies, the other person can open the locker along with the nominee.
- If there is no nominee, the bank makes a policy to give access to the locker to the legal heir of the locker holder. If the nominee wants to continue with the locker, a new contract is made for him.
How safe is a bank locker?
Bank lockers are very secure and confidential. This is the reason why the bank charges you an annual fee for using this locker. It is also called Safe Deposit Locker. Two keys are required to open it. One key is with the customer and the other with the bank manager. Unless both the keys are used, the locker will not open. If you or the bank lose the key, then either you will have to get another key made or the locker will have to be broken. There are many rules for breaking the locker, so a bank locker is a good place to keep something very safe.
