Consumer forum rejects plea on compensation in Satyam case

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission today refused to hear an investor body's petition seeking a compensation of Rs 4,987.5 crore for three lakh retail shareholders of fraud-hit Satyam, saying it is not equipped to deal with such cases.      

"We do not have the infrastructure to deal with such kind of petititon...CBI and CLB (are) already seized with the matter," observed a Bench of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission comprising Justice K S Gupta, presiding member and Rajyalakshmi Rao, member, while rejecting the Midas Touch Investors Association's (MTIA's) petition.      

Midas Touch, a consumer protection organisation, filed a petition before the Consumer Commission seeking compensation for the retail investors of Satyam who had suffered because of the accounting fraud perpetrated by the founder of the Hyderabad-based IT company, B Ramalinga Raju, for years.      

"We are exploring all options to see how this can be taken forward. It is disappointing and sends a wrong message to retail investors in India and globally," MTIA Director Virendra Jain told reporters after the hearing, which lasted just five minutes.      

The petition, which sought a compensation of Rs 4,987.5 crore for about three lakh retail investors of Satyam on the basis of a formula, was mentioned before the Commission by advocates Madhumita Bhattacharjee and Yeeshu Jain.