Cuttack: Orissa High Court has directed the state government to operate the Rs 300 crore corpus fund which it had created three years ago for distribution among the victims of the Ponzi scam in the state.

The court also directed the state government for expediting implementation of the orders given so far by the designated courts for auction of the attached properties of the Ponzi companies and distribution of the sale proceeds among the investors duped by them.

The court issued the orders on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the court's intervention alleging that the Rs 300 crore corpus fund created by the state government in October 2014 for distribution among victims of the Ponzi scam had remained "only a display board".

The petition had also sought the court's direction for speedy disposal of the cases by the four designated courts and return of money to investors.

Surendranath Acharya , 75, and eight other alleged victims of the Ponzi scam from Kendrapara had filed the PIL in May 2015.

The petitioners included purportedly duped investors in the Rose Valley Group and Seashore Group.

The petition had languished in the court till the court issued final orders on it on Tuesday.

"The single-judge bench of Justice S.K. Mishra directed the state finance department to operate the Rs 300 crore corpus fund for distribution among the small investors who had been identified as the victims of unauthorised deposit collection companies," petitioners' counsel Subhransu Bhusan Mohanty said.

"The court expected the finance department to complete the process of refund of money within 60 days to small investors who had been duped by the Rose Valley Group and Seashore Group," Mohanty said.

Under the Odisha Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishment) Act that was made into a law in August 2013.

Four designated courts in Balasore, Berhampur, Cuttack and Sambalpur were created.

They are supposed to order sale of the attached property by public auction and realise sale proceeds for distribution among victims of the scam.

But with things moving at a slow pace, there is a growing hopelessness and apprehension among the victims now that they may never get their money back.

"Among them, hundreds are dead," the petition had alleged.

"The court directed the state government to expedite implementation of the orders for auction of attached properties issued by the designated courts for distribution of sale proceeds among the duped investors," Mohanty said.

"The court also expected the government to expedite the process of identification of genuine investors which it had launched by way of seeking applications through the tehsils through the authorised officers for the designated courts," the petitioner counsel said, adding, "details will be known after the full text of the judgment is available".

The Justice Madan Mohan Das Commission had since May last year recommended the names of 60,941 small investors, who had deposited Rs 10,000 or less, eligible for compensation.