BackNSEL scam: Investors ask Bombay HC judge to recuse himself
Investors, in a letter to Justice V.M. Kanade, say his son had earlier appeared for a NSEL defaulter and 'there is an obvious likelihood of a bias'
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Mumbai: Investors in the beleaguered commodity bourse National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) have asked Justice V.M. Kanade of the Bombay high court to recuse himself from hearing all matters related to the ₹ 5,574.34 crore fraud at NSEL.
“We have come to know that your son Mr Vishal Kanade has appeared for NSEL defaulter M/s P.D Agro Processors Pvt Ltd. director’s case…", said NSEL Investors Forum in a 3 December letter to Kanade. A copy of this letter has also been sent to Mohit Shah, chief justice of the Bombay high court. Mint has reviewed a copy of this letter.
PD Agro owes NSEL ₹ 674.07 crore and is among the top five defaulters to the exchange.
Kanade is currently hearing a plea filed by Financial Technologies (India) Ltd (FTIL) opposing the draft order issued by the government suggesting a merger between NSEL and FTIL. On 27 November, a division bench comprising Kanade and Justice Anuja Prabhudesai directed the government to maintain status quo on the draft order till 22 December, when it will hear the matter again.
“There is an obvious likelihood of a bias in your mind against NSEL investors due to the involvement of your son. Hence in the interest of fairness and propriety, we request you to kindly recuse yourself from all matters related to NSEL including FTIL/ Union of India where you have already passed a status-quo order against the Union of India, which was acting in public interest and in the interest of investors," said the letter.
On 21 October, the government had issued a draft order suggesting that FTIL be merged with NSEL in public interest. The merger would mean that FTIL would assume all the liabilities of the commodity bourse and become party to all the contracts and agreements entered into by NSEL. The government said the order would be finalized after comments and feedback from stakeholders and the public. FTIL owns 99.99% in NSEL, on which trading was suspended after a ₹ 5,574.35 crore fraud came to light in July 2013.
Earlier on 30 October, Kanade had recused himself from hearing another petition of FTIL challenging a 17 December order of the Forward Markets Commission declaring it un-fit to run exchanges as senior counsel Ravi Kadam was representing FTIL. Kanade’s son Vishal is Kadam’s junior.
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