Comments
On the last day of the 16th Lok Sabha, the Centre took the much awaited step to clamp down on ponzi schemes, passing a Bill to ban unregulated deposit schemes.
The Bill — Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill 2018 — seeks to provide a comprehensive mechanism to ban unregulated deposit schemes and award compensation to depositors who lost their shirts in such schemes.
It was passed through voice vote after a short discussion. Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal moved a few amendments to the Bill, which had earlier been referred to the Standing Committee on Finance.
West Bengal connect
Replying to the discussion on the Bill, Goyal said as many as 978 cases of unauthorised deposit schemes came to the notice of the Central Government between 2014 to 2018. Of this as many as 326 schemes were from West Bengal, accounting for over one-third of the total unregulated deposit schemes in the country. Goyal said the government had quickly acted to put an end to such unauthorised deposit schemes.
“We have ensured that no loopholes are left by using great legal acumen while drafting the Bill. I want to assure the House that while drafting the rules we will ensure there is no loophole,” he said.
War of words
The chit fund scams of West Bengal came in for special mention during the discussions and both the Left and the Congress were seen accusing the Trinamool Congress of looting money of investors.
Members from the ruling BJP were seen thumping their desks when Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary and CPI (M) member Mohammed Salim came down heavily on TMC for “looting” the people of West Bengal. It may be recalled that some members of TMC are under the lens of central investigative agencies for their alleged role in the chit fund scams.
Several members of the TMC, which is the ruling party in West Bengal, protested at the well of the House when the Lok Sabha discussed the Bill.
TMC Leader Saugata Roy said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took the trouble of getting the main person in the Saradha scam arrested. He wanted to know from the Central Government as to what it had done in the last five years with respect to the scam.
BJD Leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said there should be a regulatory mechanism for the Central and State Governments to work against illegal deposit-taking activities.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.