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Enraged CSE brokers form a forum

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

Reeling under the worst ever payment crisis, the enraged brokers at Calcutta Stock Exchange held an urgent meeting on Friday evening primarily to form a forum. The meeting, which was attended by over 200 active members, gave final shape to a forum consisting of 12 brokers.

The committee, christened as CSE Member Brokers Forum, would work out the 'survival strategies' for the broking community at the Calcutta bourse, while putting the brokers' perspective in any CSE-Sebi deliberations in future.

The forum would include 12 brokers namely SL Bardhan, Ajit Dey, Vivek Mahajan, Sharad Jhunjhunwala, J M Chowdhury, Vijay Agarwal, Manoj Mahanath, Mahavir Soni, S K Kaushik, V K Mehra, Rajendra Bhaiya and K M Khandelwal. Talking to rediff.com, Kaushik said that the forum would approach the CSE secretary asking his approval for holding the first ever annual general meeting shortly.

"The AGM will ratify all names, if required, while legalising the powers of the forum. Our experiences haven't been pleasant, for no one including the management has ever functioned in a transparent manner and other brokers have been kept in the dark. This is despite the fact that we brokers have been the most affected with our lives coming to a grinding halt due to this scam. We are not even told what the magnitude of the scam is and how big the loss is. The buzz is that the CSE mandarins have touched the brokers' base minimum capital, but we have yet to hear confirmation from the CSE authorities. This has further worsened our predicament," Kaushik added.

The brokers' meeting was marred by severe infighting with accusations flying against many newly elected members in the forum. While a group suggested that only experienced brokers like JM Chowdhury should be inducted into the new forum, others opposed the move vociferously arguing that the forum needed some fresh blood.

The group demanding the inclusion of young blood alleged that the so-called experienced members had 'failed to tackle the earlier crisis'. Hence, a chance should be given to young stockbrokers. There was also a group who thought only competent must be given responsibility to be spokespersons for the brokers who have suffered in the crisis.

No CSE office bearer was available for comments on the formation of new brokers' forum.

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