HC refuses to appoint court commissioner on NSEL plea

The high court here on Tuesday refused to appoint a court commissioner on a plea made by scam-hit National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).

NSEL counsel S U Kamdar urged the court to appoint a court commissioner as they expected Rs 80 crore to trickle in following a settlement with some borrowers.

However, a division bench refused to grant relief, saying they would first admit the petitions and then decide on the proposal of appointing a court commissioner.

Hearing a bunch of petitions filed by investor groups, including one by the president of Investors Grievances Forum, Kirit Somaiya, the bench, headed by Abhay Oka, said it would not appoint a court commissioner at this stage.

Accordingly, the petitions were posted to January 16 for admission. Earlier, the court had asked the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to supervise the operations of NSEL and settlement with borrowers.

The public interest suit filed by Somaiya, a former Bharatiya Janata Party MP, sought a direction for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation or any other independent agency into the alleged refusal by NSEL to pay dues to 17,000 small investors, resulting in the Rs 5,600-crore scam.

Other suits filed by investors alleged malpractices by the bourse in settlement procedures, saying preference was given to bullion deals, while ignoring other transactions.

The court had earlier directed all the respondents, including Central Board of Direct Taxes, NSEL and its promoter Jignesh Shah to file their replies.

The court was told that the Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing is investigating the scam.