NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the Bombay High Court order and upheld the decision of the Maharashtra government to attach properties of company 63 moons Technologies under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act in relation to the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) case.
The judgment comes on an appeal that arose from an order dated August 22, 2019, of the Bombay HC, by which certain notifications attaching the property of the respondent (63 Moons technologies) under Section 4 of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act 1991 have been quashed. “... we allow the appeals and set aside the impugned judgment of the HC dated 22 August 2019.
"The impugned notifications issued under Section 4 of the MPID Act attaching the properties of the respondent are valid.” The top court said on Friday the high court ought not to have made observations on the merits of the criminal proceedings when the writ petition was restricted to the issue of whether NSEL is a financial establishment for the purpose of the MPID Act.
The court has observed that the high court lost sight of the fact that Section 2(c) of the MPID Act defines ‘deposit’ in broad terms. The high court has read the definition of ‘deposit‘ narrowly without any reference to the salutary purpose of the MPID Act, the top court said.