CUTTACK: Former chief justice of Sikkim High Court Justice Radha Krishna Patra, who was heading the Commission of Enquiry into the multicrore chit fund scam in Odisha, passed away at SCB Medical College and Hospital here on Wednesday.
Justice Patra was 72 and survived by wife and daughter. The former judge of Orissa High Court and also Chairperson of Odisha Human Rights Commission was admitted to the hospital on January 24 with pneumonia and kept in the ICU. With his condition deteriorating, he was put on life support on Tuesday evening.
“A team of top doctors from multiple disciplines was formed for his treatment. But he did not respond and breathed his last at around 9.30 am”, emergency medical officer Dr B M Moharana said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, judges and the lawyers’ fraternity paid homage to the departed soul. “Justice Patra in his various positions always upheld high values of dispensation of justice. His death is a great loss to the State”, the Chief Minister said.
The death of Justice Patra has come as a huge setback to the ongoing probe into the multicrore chit-fund scam. The Patra Commission of Enquiry had been entrusted with the responsibility of identifying the duped depositors in the ponzi firms so as to facilitate expeditious refund of their lost amount by the Government.
While forming a corpus fund of Rs 300 crore for returning money to the investors, the Government had constituted the Commission in July 2013 to receive affidavits from the depositors. The Commission till date has received more than eight lakh affidavits of which 5.5 lakh have been opened.
The Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) has been entrusted with the job of digitising the applications. As per the Government decision, the database will facilitate segregation of small investors with investments not more than Rs 10,000, who will be given priority in refund.
The digitisation process has commenced only recently. But the death of Justice Patra will leave a vacuum, affecting progress of the work. The Commission’s tenure had already been extended thrice and was about to end in October this year. The Government will now have to immediately announce a new head of the Commission and carry the work forward, sources said. His funeral rites were conducted in Puri on Wednesday evening.