Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | What has gone, has gone: Mamata Banerjee-Romita Datta

What has gone, has gone: Mamata Banerjee-Romita Datta

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Apr 23, 2013   modified Modified on Apr 23, 2013
-Live Mint


West Bengal chief minister dashes Saradha depositors' hopes of any immediate state-assisted recovery

Kolkata: What has gone, has gone," West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee told depositors of the Saradha Group, dashing their hopes of any immediate state-assisted recovery of dues from the floundering units of the group that collected the money.

Banerjee launched two separate investigations and promised to introduce a new law to deal firmly with fraudulent financial enterprises, but said almost nothing about the recovery of people's lost savings.

Her statement is likely to have strong repercussions among depositors, who for the past few days have been appealing for her intervention. More so because she didn't name the Saradha Group even once in Monday's media interaction-her first since the crisis started last week.

She said her government had received a letter from the Securities and Exchange Board of India-the stock market regulator-only last week, stating that it had launched an investigation against "a company".

It was only then that the administration came to know that something was amiss, according to Banerjee. Last week she ordered the arrest of Sudipta Sen , Saradha Group chairman and managing director, and launched a manhunt for him, but he continues to elude law enforcement officials.

Banerjee's refusal to name the Saradha Group is being widely seen by state officials as an attempt to distance her government from the fast-escalating crisis, which stemmed from the group's inability to repay depositors. It has already claimed two lives-an agent and a depositor killed themselves, respectively, on Friday and Sunday.

"She is taking a macro view, while refusing to get drawn into the immediate crisis," said a government official, asking not to be named. "It is understandable because she appreciates that the state cannot recover anything substantial from the Saradha Group any more."

A Mint investigation disclosed last week that Saradha Realty India Ltd-the flagship firm of the now-discredited group-had not prepared its annual accounts for the past two fiscal years, and that it admitted to owing people only `156 crore two years ago.

"Be patient-give us time to implement the new law," Banerjee told depositors, announcing that the state had already drafted a legislation that has more teeth than the one passed by the erstwhile Left Front government in 2009. That law could not be implemented for want of the Centre's assent.

Various finance companies have been duping people in West Bengal since the 1980s, Banerjee said, and they spread due to "lack of timely legal intervention".

Asked if the state was planning to take action against other deposit-taking firms as well, she said no one would be spared "if complaints were received" by the five-member commission she constituted on Monday.

This panel, under the leadership of a retired Calcutta high court judge, will investigate, among other things, the extent of the crisis, according to Banerjee.

Former Union revenue secretary Sunil Mitra, who held several key positions in the state administration as well, had been asked to chair the commission, but he refused, Banerjee said.

The key deficiency in the existing laws is the need for a formal complaint to initiate administrative action. But people don't go to the police unless a firm defaults, and it has been historically observed that by then, fraudsters siphon off the deposits. The now-aborted law from 2009 sought to plug this deficiency.

Banerjee on Monday announced a second inquiry panel that's to be headed by the state director general of police Naparajit Mukherjee. Though the mandate of this team of investigators isn't immediately clear, it is expected that it will deal with the Saradha Group alone.

Banerjee blamed the Centre and the erstwhile Left Front government of West Bengal for the current crisis, saying the aborted Bill from 2009 did not get the President's assent because of technical flaws.

Without withdrawing a similar Bill, the erstwhile Left Front government of the state sent a new one for the Centre's approval in 2009, she said. Because the state didn't withdraw the older one despite the state being asked to do so by the President, it was technically impossible for the Centre to give clearance to the 2009 Bill.

The state wrote to the Centre in February this year withdrawing the 2009 Bill to replace it with a new one, said officials in the law department. They did not want to be named.

It has been three months since the state government asked the Centre to return the Bill, Banerjee said, adding that she wants it returned within "24 hours" so that the state could immediately pass an ordinance.

Banerjee said she had even spoken to President Pranab Mukherjee about it on Sunday over the phone.

Surjya Kanta Mishra, leader of the opposition in the state assembly and a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, said Banerjee's allegations against the previous government about inept handling of the 2009 Bill were "absurd" and that she was "ill advised by her legal experts, as always".

The CPM has been alleging that the current government didn't persuade the Centre to clear the 2009 Bill, thus allowing deposit-taking companies to flourish over the past 22 months of the Trinamool Congress's rule.

Commenting on the measures Banerjee announced on Monday, Mishra said the fact-finding commission and the proposed new law will take time to yield any result, which will allow fraudulent financial enterprises operating in the state to make off with people's deposits.


Live Mint, 22 April, 2013, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/7Lnb4VJs2yI9xmNMjpqVhJ/Saradha-scam-Mamata-blames-centre.html


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close