Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court has ordered Central Bank of India to release the fixed deposits (FDs) of a youth who was denied encashment after a family court had ordered a status quo following matrimonial dispute between his parents.The youth approached HC earlier this year when the bank refused to give him the money in Sep 2025 even after the status quo ordered by the family court did not exist any more. His complaint with RBI Ombudsman was also rejected in Feb.Before HC, the youth submitted that the FDs were opened by his father in his name when he was a minor. However, following matrimonial discord between his parents, his mother filed a divorce petition in 2019 and sought maintenance from his father. The family court ordered interim maintenance for her and also ordered to maintain status quo on the bank accounts and FDs involving his father.Meanwhile, his father went to the USA and stopped responding to any communication, including the ones from the court. His mother decided to withdraw the divorce petition and forgo the maintenance amount. But the family court kept her request in abeyance because the court had ordered an inquiry against her on the husband’s complaint that she had placed false evidence before the court. She approached HC, which directed the family court in May 2025 to allow her to withdraw the case, though the inquiry against her may continue independently.As the encashment of his FDs was not possible even after the end of the litigation, the youth submitted before HC that upon withdrawal of the divorce petition, the interim order of status quo automatically ceased and no legal impediment survives restraining the bank from permitting encashment of the FDs.Before HC, the bank did not raise any objection. Justice Niral Mehta stated, “This court is of the view that no order restraining operation or encashment of the fixed deposits is presently in force. In such circumstances, and without entering into the merits of any other issue, this court is inclined to allow the present petition.”
