Bhubaneswar, Feb. 4: The Odisha government today appointed 62-year-old Justice Madan Mohan Dash, a retired Orissa High Court judge, as head of the judicial commission to receive complaints from investors duped by Ponzi companies.

Justice Dash had joined Orissa High Court in 2003 after 29 years of illustrious career as a practising lawyer. He retired from the high court in February last year. Dash, a graduate with chemistry honours from Ravenshaw College and a postgraduate in public administration from Utkal University had joined the High Court Bar in 1974 after completing his LLB degree from M.S. Law College.

The post of the commission head had been lying vacant following the death of Justice R.K. Patra on January 28.

The commission was formed on July 9, 2013 after the Opposition parties had criticised the state government in the money deposit collection scam. The commission has so far received nearly nine lakh petitions. As things stand today, about 11,500 of these affidavits have been digitised.

In a related development, an eight-member team of the CBI from Calcutta today inspected the sealed office of the money deposit collection company, Saradha Group, in Puri.

The state crime branch had sealed the company's Puri office in May 2013. They had taken away the hard disc containing activities of the group, apart from some documents from the office.