INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
By Chirag M ShahThe last ever payout made to investors who lost money in the NSEL scam was way back in October 2014
Till that time, commodities market regulator FMC used to monitor the payouts
Since the government rescinded the original June 2007 gazette notification, which midwifed the birth of NSEL, in September 2014, FMC had no
role to play anymore.
By that time, civil and criminal proceedings appeared to have gathered some momentum
The Maharashtra government had invoked the provision of the MPID Act, which has since been upheld by the Supreme Court
The Competent Authority appointed under the Act, had some amounts lying in their bank account owing to some auction of properties and some
Investors had filed an application in court for distribution of the same
However, the competent authority had no verified data of claims and hence no basis to proceed.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court appointed
three-member committee had collected investor claims way back in July 2015
The Competent Authority could have used this information for distribution, but the Committee has still not finalised the claims
This Committee controls the escrow account of NSEL which has a balance of nearly Rs 60 crore
which contained the outstanding amounts owed to each investor
The Competent Authority, armed with this data, gave an affidavit to the MPID court paving the way for the recent payout of about 0.74 per
cent by way of restitution under the MPID Act.
Some sections, probably those supporting NSEL, are opposed to this payout
It must be noted that this class of investors have already been paid 50 per cent of their outstanding dues in 2013 itself
principles of natural justice and equity
They want to deprive the other investors of the payout
Some of these investors, who NSEL wants to be excluded, are the ones who have the wherewithal to wage and continue the legal battles against
NSEL, whose parent FT (or 63Moons Group) is spending crores in legal fees.
The only regulator which defines retail investor is SEBI,
And those investors who were owed up to Rs 2 lakh have been paid to the extent of 100 per cent way back in 2013
So, one wonders what is this brouhaha about
Investors fervently hope that no one falls for any attempt by NSEL to ignore the law and the principles of natural justice and equity.
(The
author, a lawyer, is an aggrieved investor
