The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Sahara Group to deposit Rs 1,000 crore in a separate escrow account within 15 days and allowed it to enter into a joint venture for developing its land at Versova in Mumbai to realise Rs 10,000 crore. The amount of Rs 10,000 crore has to be deposited in SEBI-Sahara refund account for returning the investors' money, in compliance with the apex court's 2012 order. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi said in case the joint venture/development agreement is not filed in the court within 15 days, then it will sell the 12.15 million square feet of land at Versova on 'as is where is' basis. "We grant 15 days' time to SIRECL and SHICL (both Sahara Group companies) to comply with the statement made in court today. In case the joint venture/development agreement is not filed within 15 days, it will be open for this court to undertake sale of the Versova land on as is where is basis," it said. The bench added, "The Rs 1,000 .
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Sahara Group to apprise it of its officials at the helm and the current shareholders besides the list of unencumbered properties which can be sold to realise Rs 10,000 crore. The amount has to be deposited in SEBI-Sahara refund account for returning the investors' money. In a series of directions on August 31, 2012, the top court had directed that Sahara Group firms Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) would refund the amount collected from individual investors or group of investors, with interest of 15 per cent per annum to SEBI from the date of receipt of the subscription amount till the date of repayment within three months. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, M M Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi said the court has to find some practical solution for refunding the investors' money as the issue is pending for over a decade. "Sahara Group has said that it will submit some scheme
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is carrying out a detailed probe into the matter related to the Sahara group companies and further action will be taken after its report, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha on Monday. To a query on why all investors of the Sahara group companies have not come forward to claim refunds, Sitharaman said the entire affairs of the Sahara group are being monitored by the Supreme Court and the government is acting as per the directives of the apex court. "It is true that only small investors have come forward to claim the refunds. The SFIO is investigating the entire matter. It is also looking into why all the investors have not come forward to claim the refunds and where are they," she said during Question Hour. The minister said after the detailed analysis of the SFIO the whole picture will be cleared and action could be taken. She said there were 3.7 crore investors in the Sahara group companies and so far 19,65