Pay Rs 5,000 cr by April 7 for freedom: SC to Subrata Roy

Allows sale of 16 assets in list given to it, with various stipulations

The Supreme Court asked Sahara group chief Subrata Roy to deposit Rs 5,092 crore by April 7 if he wished to not return to prison, from where he was released on parole last year.

Only if he deposits a “substantial” amount, will the court will consider extending his parole, now extended till April 17. 

The court allowed him to sell 16 assets in the list given to it by his counsel, Kapil Sibal. The counsel wanted six months to pay the amount mentioned earlier to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which has accused Sahara group companies of defrauding investors. However, the Bench headed by Dipak Misra gave only six weeks to comply.

The court allowed Roy to sell his unencumbered properties, given in two lists to the court. The order states if any property is encumbered by any statutory authority, Sahara has to make the public aware of it. This condition was imposed because the Reserve Bank (RBI) and income tax (I-T) authorities have claims against certain properties of the group.

Sebi counsel Arvind Datar said the regulator had tried to sell some properties after the court allowed it to so so but none of the offers could be completed because the buyers had withdrawn and the valuation was high.  He said Sahara may be allowed to sell the properties either through public auction or e-auction. He said SBI Caps and HDFC had tried to sell the properties but their commission was high. So, Sahara itself should sell these.

The Sahara counsel offered to sell the property by stages till December. One of the assets is Formula One, the automobile racing event brand, earlier with Kingfisher.

There are offers for two hotels, one in London and another in New York. Though there was an offer for the Plaza hotel in New York for Rs 4,000 crore, the judges wanted the international real estate company in question, MG Holdings, to first deposit Rs 750 crore. Sibal said he did not know the antecedents of the offerer and so the court directed the proposed buyer to provide the details. 

RBI stated one of the group companies, Sahara India Financial Service, faces winding-up proceedings and should not be sold. The court did not hear in detail the claims of the I-T department. It directed Ghaziabad Development Authority to depost the amount of compensation due to Sahara for acquisition of its property.

The case is entering the third year, with Sebi claiming Rs 24,000 crore from the group, collected from investors in the name of convertible debentures and not returned. With interest over the years, the amount has gone up to Rs 45,000 crore, according to the markets regulator. Sahara claims it has paid most of the dues to Sebi and the latter is demanding extortionate sums. 

Illustration by Ajay Mohanty