In blow to Sahara's Subrata Roy, SC refuses to halt Aamby Valley auction

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined the plea of Sahara chief Subrata Roy to put on hold the auction of Aamby Valley.

Refusing to postpone publication of sale notice for Aamby Valley on August 14, a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra allowed the liquidator to go ahead with the auction.

The Sahara Group had moved the apex court and sought to push back the publication of sale notice and also urged more time to review Sahara's payment plan.

The auction process should be put on hold until September, so that his client could arrange Rs 1,500 crore to be deposited in the Sebi-Sahara account, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sahara, told the bench.

On July 25, the apex court had asked Subrata Roy to deposit Rs 1,500 crore -- a part payment of Rs 24,000 crore that two group companies had raised from the investors.

Directing that the sum be deposited by September 7, the court had permitted Roy to place before them a reasonable plan for the payment of balance amount over a period of 18 months -- as he had himself sought.

As it cleared all the terms and conditions submitted by the Bombay High Court's official liquidator for floating a global tender to invite bids for the auction of Aamby Valley, the court had said that if Sahara paid Rs 1,500 crore by September 7 and submitted a payment plan, it would stall the process of auctioning Aamby Valley.

The amount also includes the Rs 305 crore balance that Roy is yet to pay towards the last instalment that he was supposed to deposit by June 15.

On April 16, the court had asked the Bombay High Court's official liquidator to evaluate and auction the Aamby Valley property of the Sahara Group. The liquidator had said that the market value of the property was Rs 37,390 crore and the fair value Rs 43,000 crore.

The Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd. and the Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd. had raised Rs 24,000 crore through optionally fully convertible debentures in 2007 and 2008. The top court by its August 31, 2012, order had directed Sahara to refund this amount with 15 per cent interest.

The court has been recovering money from the group in instalments. Sahara has paid Rs 16,000 crore till now.