New chit fund act not to apply to old cases like Rose Valley, Saradha scam: WB government

By Madhuparna Das

KOLKATA: Even as the steam over the chit fund scam appears to have petered out, the Mamata Banerjee government finally succeeded in bringing the Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act in force on June 18.

Interestingly, the Act, minus the retrospective effect cannot bring Saradha scam under its purview till a judicial commission recommends the government to start a fresh case. However, it seems that the Bengal government is in no mood to investigate Saradha and Rose Valley groups under the new Act.

Hence, Mamata’s finance minister Dr Amit Mitra claimed that the sole such judicial commission –Justice Shyamal Sen judicial commission — did not hold anybody guilty in his recommendation to the government.

However, Justice Shyamal Sen clarified that he submitted his reports on time and in his recommendation he had held a person guilty for the scam. Jusice Sen told ET, "We have submitted a report to the government before the term of the commission expired. The reference to the commission was to fix the responsibility. And the commission had completed its assignment."