Supreme Court appoints panel to recover money from NSEL defaulters

The Supreme Court yesterday exercised its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to constitute a panel in order to execute awards and decrees against the defaulters in the Rs 5,600 crore NSEL payment crisis.

In a statement, NSEL said the high-powered committee will oversee and execute the decrees against the defaulters by the sale of assets that have been attached by the State of Maharashtra under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act and Enforcement Directorate across India. The value of assets attached by the State of Maharashtra under the MPID Act and Enforcement Directorate of the defaulters is more than sufficient to cover the claim amount, and so is the decree.

The execution of the decrees, which otherwise would have to be carried out in the District/Sessions court and that too at the respective locations of the defaulters will now be executed by the apex court-appointed committee. This will ensure faster recovery from the NSEL defaulters. Post-recovery, this Committee is empowered to conduct an equitable distribution of the sale proceeds after verification of claims.

All investigating agencies have confirmed the liability of the defaulters with the money trail up to the last paise traced to the defaulters, it said, adding that no money trail is established to NSEL, its directors, or promoters.

The order of the Supreme Court once again confirms the single-handed effort on the part of NSEL, which has been relentlessly working towards recovery from the defaulters in the interest of genuine trading clients, NSEL stated.

It must be recalled that NSEL has single-handedly secured decrees/arbitration awards worth Rs. 3,534.46 crore against NSEL defaulters. Further, an amount of Rs. 760.31 crore worth of defaulters’ liabilities has already been crystallized by the High-Powered Committee appointed by the Bombay High Court, which NSEL is confident of soon culminating into a decree.

Proceedings for a decree against N.K. Protein worth Rs. 964 crore is pending before the Bombay High Court. The Forensic Auditor appointed by the Economic Offence Wing, Mumbai Police, and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has confirmed the liability of N.K. Proteins to Rs. 964 crore. Two of the defaulters have already paid their liabilities amounting to Rs. 195.75 crore.

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

NSEL stated that the claims will, however, be verified by the Committee appointed by the Supreme Court. The SFIO has said they have received claims worth Rs. 2,239.61 crore out of which Rs. 935.09 crore appears to be doubtful, thereby, confirming the genuine claims to be of Rs. 1,304.61 crore only.

Immediately after the NSEL payment crisis in August 2013, NSEL had taken a without prejudice loan of Rs. 179 crore from 63 moons technologies limited, which shall also be recovered from the defaulters. This loan was used by NSEL to repay traders having claims of up to Rs. 2 lakh in entirety and those with claims between Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh by up to 50 per cent, the statement said.

Recently, the State of Maharashtra paid the remaining 50 per cent to those with claims between Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh, thereby, clearing their dues in entirety. There are certain vested groups who have been consistently deviating from the recovery efforts and only targeting NSEL. They also attempted to stall the payment being made to those with claims between Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh, but the Supreme Court dismissed their plea.