Powers of the Special Court regarding realization of assets and payment to depositors

(1) The Special Court shall have all the powers for giving effect to the provisions of this Act.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of sub section (1), the Special Court may (a) give any direction to the Competent Authority as it deems fit, for effective implementation of the provisions of this Act. (b) approve the statement of dues of the Financial Establishment due from various debtors, assessment of the value of the assets of the Financial Establishment, finalise the list of the depositors and their respective dues; (c) direct the Competent Authority to take possession of any assets belonging to or in the control of the Financial Establishment and transfer or realize the attached assets or sell the attached assets by public auction or by private sale as it deems fit or depending upon the nature of assets and credit the sale proceeds thereof to the bank accounts; (d) approve the necessary expenditure to be incurred by the Competent Authority for taking possession and realization of the assets of the financial establishment; (e) on receipt of an application under section 8, order for payment to the depositors by the Competent Authority or order for proportionate payment to the depositors; and (f) pass any order which the Special Court deems fit for realization of the assets of the company and repayment to the depositors of the Financial Establishment or on any matter or issue incidental thereto. (g) depending upon the magnitude of the fraud wherever the Special Courts feel the need for a committee to be set up for the sake realisation of proceeds and payment to depositors, the special court may constitute such committees, on a case to case basis; (h) to utilize the e-auction platform for auction of the assets attached under this Act wherever felt necessary; (i) Utilise the services of empanelled agencies notified by the State Government under section 6 for valuation of assets and selling of assets for prospective buyers, forensic auditors and digital auditor for forensic audit of money trails; (j) to utilize the services of official liquidator appointed by the Central Government under section 359 of the Companies Act, 2013(Central Act 18 of 2013) and attached to High Courts wherever felt necessary; (k) to utilize the services of agencies empanelled by Security Exchange Board of India to assist the court for assessing the value of assets and selling the assets to the prospective buyers in accordance with law; (l) to utilize the services of the valuers approved by any Nationalised Bank for valuation of assets under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, 2002 (Central Act 54 of 2002) for valuation of the assets; and (m) pass an order expeditiously for sale of the depreciable movable assets provisionally attached to realise maximum value without allowing such assets to lose their value. Explanation.- For the purpose of this section, the expression “Financial Establishment” includes the directors, partners. Promoters, managers or member of said establishment and former directors, partners, promoters, who have demitted or resigned from establishment provided their liability is limited to the period of office or any other person whose property or assets have been attached under section 3. In section 12 of the principal Act, for sub-section (6), the following shall be substituted, namely:- “(6) After investigation under sub-section (5), the Special Court shall pass an order as far as may be within one hundred and eighty days from the date of receipt of application under sub-section (2) of section 5 either making the ad-interim order of attachment absolute or varying it by releasing a portion of the property from attachment or cancelling the ad-interim order of attachment. Provided that, Special Court shall not release from attachment any interest which it is satisfied that the financial establishment or the person referred to in sub-section (1) has in the property, unless it is also satisfied that there will remain under attachment an amount or property of value not less than the value that is required for repayment to the depositors of such financial establishment. Provided further that, the special court while according permission to deposit the fair value of the property in lieu of the attachment under section 3 may obtain valuation reports from at least two empanelled valuers while releasing properties.” In the Principal Act, in section 11, in Explanation, after the words “member of said establishment”, the words “and former directors, partners, promoters who have demitted or resigned from establishment provided their liability is limited to the period of office”, and shall be inserted.