NEW DELHI, June 2: The Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman D R Mehta today met the Finance Minister P Chidambaram apparently in connection with the Rs 1,000 crore CRB scam.

Mehta met the finance minister in his North Block office in an unscheduled meeting around noon, official sources said but declined to give details.Mehta, who is in Delhi since Saturday last, is expected to stay in the capital till June 4. Prime Minister I K Gujral is likely to hold a high level meeting to discuss the CRB fiasco on Wednesday.

The meeting is to be attended by senior officials of the finance and home ministries and other concerned officials.

Mehta's meeting with the finance minister today assumed significance as Chidambaram would not be in Delhi when the Prime Minister's meeting on June 4 is held.

Chidambaram is leaving for Germany on a three-day official visit early tomorrow.

Meanwhile, SEBI has reportedly decided to cancel the licences of CRB group's merchant banking, stock broking and registral outfits. The government too has started the liquidation process of the company by appointing a liquidator.

To ensure proper monitoring of the functioning of 40,000-odd non-banking financial companies, the finance ministry has set July 8 as deadline for their registration with the Reserve Bank of India.

The ministry has also threatened to wind up those NBFCs which do not register by that date as their registration would make them necessary to follow RBI guidelines.

In the meantime, Investors' Grievances Forum (IGF) has asked CBI to investigate the role of a senior RBI official who inspected the accounts of the CRB group, recommended a global banking license and later joined the scam-tainted group.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.