BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday cautioned that it would take stringent action against the state if basic infrastructure and required staff is not provided within a month to the Competent Authority (CA), headed by Harsh Gupta, for IMA fraud cases. The authority was appointed to protect the investors.
A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi issued this direction after the court’s attention was drawn on the fact that the work of the CA has come to a complete standstill as even the basic infrastructure and delegation of powers of running independent office has been lacking.
“This is a sorry state of affairs, considering that lakhs of investors are affected due to the scam. Stringent action will be initiated against the state government for failure to comply with the directives”, the bench said and adjourned further hearing to March 27.
Referring to the CA’s letter addressed to the Chief Secretary, the bench said that it reveals the disturbing fact that the remuneration of the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) has also not been released. It should be released within 15 days and henceforth, the remuneration should be release regularly and punctually, the bench said.
The CA has pointed out in his February 12 letter that adequate office space is not provided, additional posts are not created, suitable staff are not posted, among others. The CA had also drawn the attention of the court to the fact that the Principal Secretary of the Revenue Department has not filed an affidavit before the Special Court, defending the attachment of properties of IMA.
Taking serious note of it, the bench directed the Chief Secretary look into the issues and directed compliance within a month.
Aadhaar-based authentication
The CA stated in the status report that the online claim application features real-time validation of Aadhaar number, mobile and ration card number, client ID with IMA etc., and broad features of the claim process has been put up for feedback from the depositors before final deployment.