The state Assembly today passed the West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2015, after the Ministry of Home Affairs on receiving the Presidential assent, gave some riders to the state for consideration.
State Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who moved the motion, said in his reply during the debate that the government had agreed to five of the six conditions given by the Centre, but did not agree to the last one which related to compounding of offences.
None of the amendments brought in by the Opposition CPI(M) and Congress was accepted.
Mitra said the conditions which were accepted were powers to enter premises of the accused, conduct search and seizure, confiscation, attachment of property and selling of attached properties through public auction.
The penal provision included life imprisonment as well, he said.
This was the third time that such a Bill was introduced by the present government in the last four years with a view to protect the depositors from being cheated by financial institutions, as witnessed in the cases of Sanchayita, Overland, Verona, Saradha among many others.
There were heated exchanges between the Treasury benches and the Opposition during the debate when the Leader of Opposition and CPI(M) member Surjya Kanta Mishra expressed doubt over the government's political willingness in making the Bill see the light of the day.
He said the Opposition had demanded that the Justice Shyamal Sen Commission report be tabled in the Assembly, but it was not done.
Government chief whip Sobhandev Chatterjee and state Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee mentioned a letter written by former LF Finance Minister Ashok Mitra in 1980 to the Centre about the helplessness which he was facing as these companies were doing political funding.
Amit Mitra said it took the Left Front government as many as 23 years to realise the need for such a Bill and it never took any interest in getting the Presidential assent.
He added that the government had also stated that this Bill was in addition and not in derogation to any other law in force.
