Odisha Govt Extends Tenure Of Chit Fund Probe Panel By Another Six Months

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday extended the tenure of Justice MM Das Commission of Inquiry, probing the multi-crore chit fund scam, by another six months with effect from August 5.

A notification in this regard has been issued by the Home Department.

“Tenure of Hon’ble Justice (Retd) MM Das Commission of Inquiry on the unauthorised collection of public deposits further extended by the government of Odisha for six months with effect from 5.8.2018,” the notification said.

The commission of inquiry, which was formed by the state government on July 9, 2013, has submitted its fifth interim report.

The Commission after the fifth-phase verification of 2,52,000 affidavits had identified about 50,000 small investors (who have invested Rs 10,000 and less) and issued the notice to 486 chit fund companies.

The Commission had submitted its first interim report on May 25, 2016, after verifying 26,976 affidavits. In its second interim report on February 3, 2017, the commission had informed the state government about verification of 61,252 affidavits.

In its third interim report on July 25, 2017, the Commission had identified 60,941 small investors while in the fourth interim report submitted on January 18, 2018, it had verified 1,38,387 affidavits and identified 55,563 small investors.

The inquiry commission has so far identified 1,16,504 small investors, who have invested less than Rs 10,000 in the chit fund companies.

The Commission has recommended the state government to take measures for the refund of money of the small investors on a priority basis.

The state government had set up a Rs 300-crore corpus fund in 2013 to refund the money that the small depositors had invested in the Ponzi firms.