Sahara case: SC denies Subrata Roy deadline extension for Rs 552-cr payment

SC cautioned that Roy's cheque of Rs 552.21 cr must be realised within the July 15 deadline

The Supreme Court on Wednesday noted that embattled Sahara chief Subrata Roy has deposited Rs 710.22 crore in the SEBI-Sahara account, but warned that its cheque of Rs 552.21 crore must be realised within the July 15 deadline.

The apex court rejected Roy's request to extend time beyond July 15 for realisation of this cheque.

Roy had earlier told the court that he will pay Rs 1,500 crore on or before June 15 and Rs 552.22 crore exactly a month thereafter.

However, he had paid Rs 790.18 by June 15 and was granted 10 more days till July 4 for payment of Rs 709.82 crore by a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra.

The apex court today noted that Sahara has deposited a total of Rs 1500.40 crore and now Rs 9,000 crore remained due on the principal amount of Rs 24,000 cr.

The bench also made it clear that it would not extend beyound July 15 the deadline for depositing Rs 552.21 crore and warned that appropriate action will be taken if the cheque is not realised.

The court also accepted the terms and conditions and the draft proclamation, prepared by Vinod Sharma, the official liquidator of the Bombay High Court, for auction of properties at Sahara's Aamby Valley.

Earlier, the court had extended till July 4 the time to deposit Rs 709.82 crore, out of Rs 1,500 crore which was to be paid by June 15.

Prior to this, the court was irked over non-submission of money and had decided to sell off Rs 34,000 crore worth of properties of the Sahara Group at the Aamby Valley.

Roy has spent almost two years in jail and been on parole since May 6 last year. The parole was granted the first time to enable him to attend the funeral of his mother. It has been extended since then.

Besides Roy, two other directors - Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary - were arrested for failure of the group's two companies - Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) - to comply with the court's August 31, 2012 order to return Rs 24,000 crore to their investors. Director Vandana Bhargava was not taken into custody.