Odisha HC pushes for speedy disbursal of refund to duped investors

CUTTACK: The Orissa high court has directed the chief secretary to form a competent committee to expedite the process of returning money of depositors duped by shady financial companies. The single judge bench of Justice Biswanath Rath issued the direction while taking note of the inordinate delay in releasing money in favour of large number of identified depositors.
The HC expected the competent committee to oversee the recognition process for return of money, taking into consideration the identified list of depositors that had been already submitted by the Justice Madan Mohan Das Commission constituted for the purpose.
The commission had recommended the names of 4,97,844 investors eligible for compensation in seven interim reports submitted to the state government by July 2019, while naming more than 450 sham companies for duping these investors.
The HC took note that the competent authority had come out with advertisement in Odia and English, inviting applications from identified depositors after almost five years of the earlier order. Justice Rath expected the competent committee be formed by the chief secretary to ensure timely completion of the recognition process, taking into account the applications so submitted in comparison with the list of depositors already submitted by the Justice M M Das Commission.