SC appointed committee for NSEL to recover monies from defaulters

New Delhi: The National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) said that the Supreme Court gave the nod to form a high-powered committee to recover monies from defaulters, where it has secured money decrees. It said that the committee would be headed by retired Bombay High Court judge Pradeep Nandrajog, IANS reported.

Exercising its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution- which states that any decree or order passed by the Supreme Court to do complete justice is enforceable throughout the territory of India- the top court will constitute the committee to execute awards and decrees against the defaulters in the Rs 5,600 crore NSEL payment crisis.

It had secured decrees/arbitration awards worth Rs 3,534.46 crore against NSEL defaulters. Also, an amount of Rs 760.31 crore worth of defaulters' liabilities has already been crystallised by the high-powered committee appointed by the Bombay High Court.

Further, proceedings for a decree against NK Protein worth Rs 964 crore are pending before the Bombay High Court. The forensic auditor appointed by the Economic Offences Wing, Mumbai Police, and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has confirmed NK Protein's liability. It had already paid liabilities amounting to Rs 195.75 crore.

The recovery from the NSEL defaulters stands at Rs 5,454.52 crore, and their attachment of assets is sufficient to cover the claims made by the trading clients if all claims are considered genuine.

NSEL stated that the top court's committee would verify the claims. SFIO said that though it had received claims worth Rs 2,239.61 crore, Rs 935.09 crore appears doubtful, confirming that genuine claims are of Rs 1,304.61 crore only.

After the NSEL met the payment crisis in August 2013, it took a without prejudice loan of Rs 179 crore from 63 Moons Technologies limited. This will also be recovered from defaulters, IANS reports.

NSEL had used this to repay traders having claims of up to Rs 2 lakh in entirety and those with claims between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh by up to 50 per cent, NSEL said in the statement.

The committee will monitor and execute the decrees against the defaulters by the sale of assets attached by the state of Maharashtra.