Centre sends Bengal bill on ponzi defaulters to President

The MHA sent the bill for further comments to the concerned ministries of finance and commerce.

Days after she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has had her way. Although Modi has remained non-committal on Banerjee’s debt waiver demand, his government has given green signal to a bill passed by the assembly, which was pending for more than a year, to rein in ponzi schemes defaulters in the aftermath of Saradha chit fund scam.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has forwarded the bill to the office of President Pranab Mukherjee for his assent.

The West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Bill, 2013, which was first introduced in the assembly in April 2013, was returned by the then UPA government for its overlapping features with certain central Acts. The state government reintroduced the bill in December 2013 after which it had been lying with the Centre. Though the bill is with the President now, a senior home ministry official said he was bound by the advise of the council of ministers.

The MHA sent the bill for further comments to the concerned ministries of finance and commerce. After receiving suggestions and comments from both the ministries, it sent it to the President for his assent on March 12, sources said. This was three days after Chief Minister Banerjee met Modi.

“The bill was pending due to certain suggestions that had to come from the ministries of finance and law. We wanted to ensure it did not overlap with any of the central Acts. Now that we are satisfied, we have given the go ahead,” said a senior MHA official. The bill has provisions of attaching the property of a person who has borrowed money from such financial firms that have defaulted on depositors’ money.

Source:: Indian Express