New Delhi, Sept. 9: The Supreme Court has suggested the appointment of a judicial officer to hasten the process of reimbursing money to defrauded depositors of the Sanchaita chit fund scheme.

Today, the court directed all stake-holders of Sanchaita Savings and Investment Limited, the special officer, RBI, the company and its depositors to devise a process by which their claims could be disposed of speedily.

The order has come 10 years after Calcutta High Court handed over the assets of Sanchaita to a special officer to reimburse the claims of the depositors.

The high court had in 1995 handed over the company to the special officer but the process of reimbursing depositors has got bogged down by litigation.

Depositors have said nothing had been done so far to process their claims. Multiple petitions are pending in the Supreme Court from depositors unhappy with the functioning of the special officer, the company and the RBI.

When the case came up for hearing today, a bench headed by Justice R.V. Raveendran expressed unhappiness over being asked to decide the claims of depositors. “We are the final court of appeal. Without hearing anyone, without leading evidence if we decide either way, an aggrieved litigant will have nowhere to go,” the bench said. “We are virtually functioning as receiver and liquidator.”

The bench then asked all sides to work out a way so that a judicial officer can go through all decisions taken by the special officer and report back to the top court to hasten the reimbursement process.

The court asked all those involved to decide whether they would like a judicial officer like a district judge or a retired high court or Supreme Court judge to oversee the process. The judicial officer would make a summary inquiry into the merits of each case.

Sanchaita had around 8 lakh depositors throughout the country when it shut down.