NSEL scam: HC orders defaulting firms to deposit Rs 157.5

In an order which may come as a relief to troubled National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), the Bombay High Court today ordered defaulting companies of Aastha Group to deposit a sum of Rs 157.5 crore within a month.
Based on admissions of liability made by defaulting trading members M/s Aastha Minmet India Pvt Ltd and Juggernaut Projects Ltd (also of Aastha Group), a division bench directed them to deposit Rs 12.5 crore and Rs 145 crore, respectively, with the HC within four weeks.
If any sum has been deposited earlier in the High Court, it can be deducted from these amounts, said the bench headed by Justice V M Kanade.

The order was delivered on an appeal filed by Aastha Minmet and Juggernaut Projects against a decree in favour of NSEL, lawyer of the spot exchange Ameet Naik told PTI.
The total amount secured for recoveries stood at Rs 4515.93 crore, of which Rs 1233.02 crore is by way of decree, an NSEL release said.
The scam-hit exchange is facing Rs 5,600-crore payment default involving around 13,000 investors across the country. Aggrieved investors have moved the High Court to recover their monies. The scam came to light in July, 2013.
A Special Court formed under Maharashtra Protection of Investors Deposits (MPID) Act recently ordered sale of property of a defaulting member of NSEL, Mohan India Group, worth about Rs 350 crore.