Special bench to hear chit fund related cases in Bengal

A special bench would be constituted to hear chit fund-related cases for speedy disposal of petitions, Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Manjula Chellur today said and directed the West Bengal finance secretary to personally appear before the court.
Hearing a matter related to chit fund company MPS Group with Justice Joymalyo Bagchi, she said the special bench would comprise justices Aniruddha Bose and Joymalyo Bagchi.
At least 150 matters relating to chit fund companies, including Saradha Group and Rose Valley Group, are pending before the high court.
The Chief Justice expressed her displeasure at the West Bengal government's failure to appoint a nodal officer with regard to identification and disposal of assets of MPS Group for repaying investors.

The division bench had formed a one-man committee of Justice (retired) S P Talukdar for the purpose.
Justice (retd) Talukdar, in a communication to the Chief Justice, claimed that as per her order, the committee had approached the state government to appoint a nodal officer, but it has so far been ignored.

The committee also said that in view of this, it may not be able to fulfil its duty and the purpose of forming the committee may not be served.
Expressing displeasure at the state's failure to comply with the court's order, the division bench said it was a very sorry state of affairs as the state government was not giving due attention to the matter.

The bench directed the principal secretary, Finance department of the state, to appear personally before it on August 4 to explain the state's position in this regard.