PremiumNew Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to intervene in the Bombay high court order staying notifications for attachment of assets of Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL), now known as 63 Moons Technologies, in the alleged National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) scam worth ₹5,600 crore.
The Bombay high court had on 24 October stayed notifications issued by the state government under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act,1999, deeming them to be "arbitrary, unreasonable and excessive".
It also stayed a portion of the September notification, as a result of which accrued interest on investments is likely to be available to 63 Moons.
The state government's notification of 4 April had issued a directive for freezing the operating accounts of the company. It alleged complaints had been received from a number of depositors against NSEL of having collected money by promising attractive returns but failing to return the deposits at the time of repayment.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Maharashtra Police, which has been investigating the money laundering case since 2014, had decided to invoke the stringent MPID law.
The ministry of corporate affairs on 12 February, 2016, had ordered a merger of FTIL and NSEL, making the parent responsible for the liabilities of its fraud-hit subsidiary. This was upheld by the Bombay high court in December and the matter is under challenge in the Supreme Court.
If allowed, this will be the first time any two private entities in India are merged by fiat, using a provision of the Companies Act that allows the government do so in public interest.
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