The High Court yesterday ruled that after the death of a person, the money deposited in his/her accounts would go to their heirs instead of nominees. After making a rule absolute, the HC bench comprising Justice Naima Haider and Justice Khizir Ahmed Choudhury said that as per the law the nominee is a trustee and agent only. The deposited money of the dead people will have to be divided among the heirs as per the Mohammedan Law, the court added.
After the verdict, senior Supreme Court lawyer Advocate MI Farooqui, counsel for the petitioners, told The Independent that the nominees were not owners of the deposited money at all. The deposited money has to be divided among the heirs as per provision of the Mohammedan law, he added. Farooqui said that former deputy director of the Bangladesh Bank Shohidul Haque kept Tk 30 lakh in his account. But, after his death, his second wife Bilkis Ara Bequm, who is the nominee of the account, claimed the money and tried to withdraw it from the account. But three heirs of Shohidul Haque namely Munjurul Hoque and his two sisters Zamila Sultana and Zakia Sultana, all of them successors of Shohidul’s first family, filed a case with the trial court seeking their portion from the deposited money, claming that they are the legal successors of Shohidul Haque. The trial court, on September 3 in 2014, rejected their petition and said that the nominee would withdraw the money from the account.
Later, the trio filed miss appeal with the Dhaka’s additional district judges court against the joint district court order. The additional district judge court, on March 3 in 2015, rejected the miss appeal upholding the joint district judge court order.  Later, the trio moved with the High Court by filing a civil revision against the trial court order in June last year. In response to the civil revision, the HC on June 15 last year issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why the trial court order rejecting the petition of successors should not be set aside. After a hearing on the rule, the HC bench yesterday gave the verdict, paving way for the successors to become the legal owners of the deposited money of their predecessor.
Advocate Mahabub-ule-Islam, one of the counsel for the petitioners, said the nominee is not a owner at all as they are only trustee and agent of the account holders. They can withdraw the money from the accounts, but they have to give it to the proper successors of the account holders following the verdict, he added.