Supreme Court Clears Path for Sahara to Refund Small Investors: No Restrictions on Selling Assets
There is good news for lakhs of small investors of the Sahara. The hope of getting their money in the coming days has increased. In fact, the Supreme Court today said that there is no restriction on the Sahara Group to sell its assets to deposit about Rs 10,000 crore in the SEBI-Sahara refund account to return the money of the investors.
The apex court had directed on August 1, 2012, that the Sahara Group companies - SIRECL and SHICL will return the amount deposited from the investors to SEBI with 15 percent annual interest. This interest will be payable from the date of depositing the amount to the date of repayment.
The bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice MM Sundaresh and Justice Bela M Trivedi expressed displeasure over the Sahara Group not depositing the amount as per the court's direction. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Sahara Group, said that the company was not allowed to sell its assets.
On this, the bench said that as per the court's order, there is no restriction on the Sahara Group to sell its properties to collect the remaining Rs 10,000 crore out of Rs 25,000 crore. The court also added that the properties should not be sold at a price lower than the circle rate. In the case of selling it at a price lower than the circle rate, prior permission of the court will have to be taken.
Investors who invested in Sahara have started getting money. Investors who had invested in four cooperative societies associated with Sahara Group companies. In March last year, the Supreme Court had directed to transfer Rs 5,000 crore from the Sahara-SEBI refund account to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS).
In July, the Ministry of Cooperation launched a portal to receive valid claims from depositors of four cooperative societies of the Sahara Group - Sahara Credit Cooperative Society, Saharayan Universal Multipurpose Society, Hamara India Credit Cooperative Society and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society.
