NEW DELHI: For close to 20 years, the Supreme Court kept an eye on the interests of several hundred investors who were duped of crores of rupees by Skipper Constructions and allied companies floated in and around Delhi by Tejwant Singh.
After years of effort and with assistance from senior advocate Dayan Krishnan acting as amicus curiae in the case, the court ensured refund of money to 808 claimants, but another 203 failed to turn up to claim their money, leaving a balance of nearly Rs 9 crore with the Supreme Court.
The question before a bench of Justices H L Dattu and A M Sapre was what to do with the money lying with the court. Krishnan, after consulting additional solicitor general L Nageshwara Rao, suggested keeping aside some money for claimants in case any of them turned up to seek a refund and to donate the rest to charitable organizations.
Krishnan suggested four Delhi-based child care institutions – Institution for the Blind, which runs a fully residential school for bilnd children; Udayan Care, which works for orphans and runs 13 Udayan Ghars in Delhi and NCR; Salam Balak Trust, which runs 24-hour shelters for children; and Naz Foundation, which runs a residential care home for HIV infected children – and Spastics Society of Karnataka.
The court decided to donate Rs 1 crore each to these institutions and closed proceedings relating to the Skipper Constructions scam which had consumed considerable time, energy and effort of both judges and advocates.
TOI | Sep 4, 2014
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