The NSEL Investors Action Group (NIAG) led by investor Ketan Shah has opposed payout to the small investors of the now defunct National Spot Exchange (NSEL), a release from the exchange said.

The Bombay High Court had ordered the NSEL to immediately release payments due between ₹2 lakh to ₹10 lakh to retail investors of NSEL. However, since Shah objected the court has allowed him to appeal in the Supreme Court.

“Exchange bye-laws permit such mutual distribution from clearing house to small traders while NIAG or any other investor forum did not put any effort or file cases, only NSEL and 63 moons efforts have resulted in the recovery. As per the information available in social media, the personal income of Ketan Shah has increased from ₹16 lakh to ₹16 crore after he started representing so-called investors association and started trading the pain of traders,” NSEL said in its release.

The Bombay High Court (BHC) on Monday ruled that the competent authority (CA) in National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) case must distribute, on priority basis, the amount lying in its escrow account to genuine claimants whose outstanding is between ₹2 lakh and ₹10 lakh.

The Division Bench headed by Justice SS Shinde and Justice Manish Pitale, while hearing the appeal by Pune-based NSEL claimant Rabibai Mohamad Ismail, ordered that the amount lying in CA’s escrow be distributed among NSEL claimants with outstanding between ₹2 lakh and ₹10 lakh, so that the small claimants are paid off all their dues.

“However, Ketan Shah, who heads and used to masquerade as their messiah, opposed this order favouring small claimants and sought to challenge the same in the apex court. The BHC kept the order in abeyance for two weeks, with no further extensions. The stand taken by NIAG and Ketan Shah makes it quite obvious that NIAG, in connivance with tainted brokers, is going all out to derail the judiciary process, misleading and delaying the investigation and obstructing the distribution process,” NSEL said.

The Government of Maharashtra, based on the suggestion received from Ministry of Finance via a letter dated August 20, 2018, had instructed the CA and EOW, Mumbai,via a letter dated September 1, 2018, that payment may be made to small claimants with an outstanding amount between ₹2 lakh and ₹10 lakh.

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