SC upholds govt's move to attach 63 Moon Tech's assets

New Delhi: The Supreme Court upheld the Maharashtra government's order to attach assets of 63 Moon Technologies on Friday. The state government's order was under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act in the Rs 5,600 crore National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) payment default case, IANS reported.

The top court overruled the Bombay High Court's judgement, which quashed the state government's notifications to the firm. It had allowed the government's appeal against the Bombay HC's verdict to free the attached assets belonging to the firm.

The bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Bela M. Trivedi observed, "For the reasons recorded, we allow the appeals and set aside the impugned judgment of the Bombay High Court. The notifications issued under Section 4 of Maharashtra Protection of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act, 1999 of attaching the property of the respondent are valid."

The 63 Moons Technologies counsel, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi had requested that the special court be asked to decide the issue within three months. To that, the SC bench asked the lawyer to move an application.

In 2019, the Bombay High Court, in its judgement, declared, "NSEL is not a financial establishment within the purview of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) in Financial Establishments Act (under which attachment was made). Hence, we decline the prayer (of the state)."

The court had reasoned that since NSEL did not accept any receipts, it was not a financial establishment per the MPID Act. NSEL was a commodities exchange instead, where commodities get traded between buyers and sellers through brokers, the court observed.