SC to hear Sahara refund case on Feb. 6

The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to hear the Sahara refund case on February 6 after Subrata Roy's lawyer Kapil Sibal urged that this matter be preponed.

Earlier, the apex court had fixed the date of hearing in the case on February 7.

Roy's interim parole will expire on February 6.

In a major relief to Roy, the apex court earlier on November 28 last year extended his interim bail and ordered him to pay Rs.600 crore to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) by February 6.

During the hearing, Roy's counsel Kapil Sibal proposed to the three judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Tirath Singh Thakur, to pay Rs. 11,000 crore within a period of two-and-a- half years.

In October last year, the apex court had extended his parole till November 28 taking note of the deposit of Rs. 200 crores made by him with SEBI as a condition precedent for his release.

Roy was in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014, till his mother's death in May 6, 2016, for not complying with the apex court's orders in connection with a long dispute with the market regulator.

The SEBI alleged that Roy allegedly failed to comply with 2012 apex court order directing him to return investors more than Rs 20,000 crore with 15 percent interest that his two companies Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and the Sahara Housing Finance Corp Ltd had raised through optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCD) in 2007 and 2008.

On May 6 last year, the apex court had granted four weeks' custody parole to Roy to perform his mother's (Chabbi Roy) last rites.

Sahara, once one of India's most high-profile firms, had in the past made several failed attempts to raise the bail money using its prized overseas hotels that include the Plaza in New York and Grosvenor House in London.

Sahara says it has paid more than 80 percent of the dues to share-holders, but the market regulator, SEBI, disputes that and said the Sahara's have not paid more than Rs 10,000 crores.