SC refuses plea to exempt Roy from personal appearance

The bench insisted that the Sahara group must repay Rs 20,000 crore to the investors as ordered by the court last year

A final attempt of Subrata Roy, head of the Sahara group of companies, to be exempted from personally appearing before the Supreme Court on Wednesday failed, with the bench insisting on his presence. Judges K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar said they were clear the group must repay Rs 20,000 crore to investors as ordered by the  court last year; Roy’s summons is because this is yet to be done. “Even if we retire,” the judges told Roy’s counsel, Ram Jethmalani, “we will ensure the order is implemented.”

The court had ordered last week that Roy and three directors of the two Sahara real estate companies should come to the court to explain the delay in refunding the dues. The amounts were collected from the public through bonds. The judges are hearing a contempt of court petition from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which alleges the two companies have flouted the orders for one and a half  years.

Jethmalani asked the bench for an exemption from personal appearance for Roy, assuring it the payments to investors would be done.  The bench said previous orders have not been complied with and that was why Roy and the directors were summoned. The directors called are Ravi Shankar Dubey, Ashok Roy Choudhary and Vandana Bhargava. They are  directors in Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara India Housing Investment Corporation. The court has told Sebi to sell properties of the group to raise the money; Sebi says the titles are not satisfactory and the sale proceeds would not meet the commitment to investors.