Mamata readies Bill to crack whip on chit funds

To convene state Assembly on Monday; meanwhile, FIR registered against party MP in Saradha scam

The West Bengal government, said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today, was ready with a new Bill to clamp on chit fund companies in the state. A special session of the legislative Assembly is to be convened for Monday and Tuesday.

Governor M K Narayanan has given in-principle nod for the intended legislation, she said. An all-party meeting in the Assembly was organised today in this regard.

Adding to the buffeting her Trinamool Congress has had in relation to the issue, after the mass defaults of the Saradha group, a police case (First Information Report) has been registered against Kunal Ghosh, a party MP. And, in the same complaint, against Saradha group chairman Sudipta Sen, now in police remand, for non-payment of salaries to employees of the Channel 10 television station, run by the group. Ghosh was a key executive.

The FIR was filed last night at the Park Street police station here by editorial and non-editorial employees of Channel 10, who said they'd not been paid salaries for the past three months, despite repeated assurances. The party has not considered the option of asking Ghosh to resign, indicated industry minister Partha Chatterjee.

Ghosh has denied these allegations on other TV channels and claimed the FIR was baseless, as he was not involved in the financial activities of the group. The Channel 10 office was also ransacked by the angry employees this afternoon.

Ghosh was the group chief executive officer of the media outfits of Saradha but had resigned just before the chit fund company went bust. The FIR also named two other people who were involved in the operations of Channel 10.

On the new Bill, Banerjee said once it was passed, finance minister Amit Mitra and chief secretary Sanjay Mitra would travel to Delhi to get it formally approved by the governor, as he would be there at the time. "We do not want to delay this process. The state government will then approach the Centre for their necessary approval," the CM said.

A Bill earlier passed during the tenure of the predecessor Left Front government, which had sought to regulate chit funds, was awaiting the Centre's approval.

On Monday, the CM had requested President Pranab Mukherjee to return the Bill, to enable the state government to incorporate more stringent provisions to deal with such activities.