Lucknow Press
If your money is also stuck in Sahara Group, then the new order of the Supreme Court can give you relief. The Supreme Court made it clear in its order on Tuesday that Sahara Group can return the money of investors by selling its property. There is no restriction on Sahara Group to sell its property to deposit around Rs 10,000 crore in the SEBI-Sahara refund account to return the money of investors. This was said by the apex court during a hearing.
Order to return the money to SEBI with 15 percent interest
On August 1, 2012, the Supreme Court had directed that Sahara Group companies SIRICL and SHICL return the money taken from investors to SEBI with 15 percent annual interest. The money received from Sahara by SEBI will be returned to the investors. The interest to be paid by Sahara will be payable from the date of depositing the money to the date of repayment.
A bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice MM Sundaresh and Justice Bela M Trivedi expressed displeasure over Sahara Group not depositing the money as per the court’s direction.
There is no restriction on selling the properties
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of Sahara Group, said that the company was not given an opportunity to sell its properties. On this, the bench said that as per the court order, there is no restriction on Sahara Group to sell its properties to collect the remaining Rs 10,000 crore out of Rs 25,000 crore. The court also said that the property should not be sold at a rate lower than the circle rate. If a situation arises to sell the property at a price lower than the circle rate, then the permission of the court will have to be taken first.
The bench expressed its displeasure and said that more than 10 years have passed and Sahara Group has not complied with the court’s order. ‘SEBI is demanding about Rs 10,000 crore, you have to deposit it. We want a different plan so that the property can be sold in a transparent manner. We will also involve SEBI in this practice.’
Justice Khanna also said that selling property below circle rate is neither in the interest of SEBI nor of Sahara Group. If the property without debt is offered for sale, then there are enough buyers available in the market.
The bench also said that it is wrong to say that you were not given proper opportunity to sell the property. The court had given you enough opportunities to sell your property. Senior advocate Pratap Venugopal, appearing on behalf of SEBI, said that not all the properties are without debt and it is not clear when the company will pay the remaining amount.
