Section 45ZB of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949: Notice of Claims Regarding Deposits

Section 45ZB deals with notices of claims made by persons other than the person or persons in whose name a bank deposit is held. In general, a banking company is not required to receive or act on such a third-party notice. The section expressly preserves an exception where a competent court issues a decree, order, certificate or other authority concerning the deposit.

Current-law note: Section 45ZB continues to operate as the protection against ordinary third-party notices concerning deposits. The Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 modernised the connected nomination framework, including Section 45ZA, with the relevant nomination changes taking effect from November 1, 2025. Those changes do not replace the court-order exception contained in Section 45ZB.

Text of Section 45ZB

45ZB. Notice of claims of other persons regarding deposits not receivable. No notice of the claim of any person, other than the person or persons in whose name a deposit is held by a banking company, shall be receivable by the banking company, nor shall the banking company be bound by any such notice even though expressly given to it:

Provided that where any decree, order, certificate or other authority from a court of competent jurisdiction relating to such deposit is produced before a banking company, the banking company shall take due note of such decree, order, certificate or other authority.

What Section 45ZB means

The provision creates a clear rule for banks dealing with competing claims to a deposit. A private notice, letter, demand or assertion from a person who is not the person in whose name the deposit stands does not, by itself, require the banking company to recognise or act on that claim.

The important exception is judicial or legally authoritative intervention. If a decree, order, certificate or other authority from a court of competent jurisdiction relating to the deposit is produced before the banking company, the bank must take due note of it.

Practical effect: Section 45ZB distinguishes an ordinary third-party claim from a binding or legally cognisable direction issued by a competent court. A claimant who disputes entitlement to a deposit may therefore need an appropriate legal order rather than merely sending a notice to the bank.

Relationship with nomination under Section 45ZA

Section 45ZB should be read with Section 45ZA, dealing with nomination for payment of depositors' money. The nomination framework was amended in 2025 to permit up to four nominees for deposit accounts, either successively or simultaneously, subject to the statutory conditions governing such nominations.

The 2025 amendments also introduced a statutory order of priority for successive nominations through Section 45ZG. These reforms concern how nomination operates; they do not remove the separate rule in Section 45ZB concerning third-party notices and competent-court orders.

When can a bank take notice of another person's claim?

For purposes of Section 45ZB, the central distinction is between an ordinary notice and a legally authoritative instrument. The proviso specifically refers to a decree, order, certificate or other authority from a court of competent jurisdiction relating to the deposit.

  • A mere private demand or claim by another person is not enough to bind the banking company under Section 45ZB.
  • A decree or order of a competent court concerning the deposit must be taken into account by the bank.
  • The section should be read together with the statutory nomination provisions and any applicable court order governing entitlement or payment.

Legal information: This page explains the statutory provision in general terms. Rights in a particular deposit may depend on the account mandate, nomination, survivorship instructions, succession law, court proceedings and the terms of any judicial order.

Related provisions

Sections 45ZA to 45ZG form the principal statutory cluster dealing with nomination and related claims involving deposits, safe-custody articles and lockers. The following pages may also be relevant: