Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition filed by National Spot Exchange Ltd, NSEL challenging the applicability of a tough law that protects depositors in the multi-crore rupees scam in which the bourse has been allegedly embroiled. A bench, headed by Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudesai, said it is of the view that Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors, MPID Act will be applicable in this case and accordingly dismissed the plea. The judges said the provisions of MPID Act are invoked as the petitioner had assured its clients that if they invest in T+2 and T+25 schemes they would get assured returns of 14 to 16 per cent per annum. They said that the receipt of money falls within the definition of 'deposit'.<br/> <br/>Counsels of NSEL argued that NSEL only provided online trading platform for purchase and sale of commodities by registered members and also provided the settlement of contracts by payments by the buyer to seller through the exchange and sale delivery of the commodity by the seller to the buyer. They said the bourse never received or accepted any deposit as defined in Section 2(c) of MPID Act.<br/>Mumbai Police have registered a case against the now- crippled spot commodity exchange under MPID Act on behalf of 11,000 investors to recover 5,600 crore rupees allegedly lost in the scam which came to light in July 2013.