In some good news for the LGBTQ community, the Union Finance Ministry on Thursday said that there are no restrictions on opening a joint bank account. There also no restrictions on nominating a person in a queer relationship as a nominee.
The Finance Ministry made the announcement in an advisory, prompted by the Supreme Court order passed on October 17 last year, in the case of Supriyo@Supriya Chakraborty and another vs Union of India.
"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 queer relationship as a nominee to receive the balance in the account, in the event of death of the account holder," the advisory by the Finance Ministry read.
It also mentioned that the Reserve Bank of India issued a clarification in this regard to all the commercial banks on August 21. In 2015, the RBI directed banks to include a separate 'third gender' column in all their forms and applications to help transgender persons open bank accounts and avail related services.
The Supreme Court said that the issue of legalising same-sex marriages must be decided by the Parliament, while adding there is no fundamental right to marriage. CJI DY Chandrachud also recorded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's statement that the Centre will form a committee to decide the rights and entitlements of persons in queer unions.
This, however, is not the first time the Centre has taken steps to help the queer community. In April, the Centre set up a six-member committee led by cabinet secretary to address the queer community's problems.
The committee was tasked to review processes to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ persons in accessing services. It was also asked to develop measures to protect the LGBTQ persons from coercion, violence and harassment.
In October last year, CJI directed Centre and state governments to ensure that there is no discrimination against the members of the queer community because of their identity.
He also directed the authorities to sensitise the public about queer rights, to create a hotline for the queer community and safe houses for queer couples and to ensure inter-sex children aren't forced to undergo sex-change operations.