New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to the auction process for the Sahara group’s Aamby Valley properties after it failed to deposit Rs750 crore in the Sebi-Sahara refund account by the 15 May deadline.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra was informed by Vikas Singh, counsel for Sahara chief Subrata Roy and the group, that they had failed to sell any land parcel of Aamby Valley for depositing the money by 15 May as per a 19 April order of the apex court.
On 19 April, the court permitted the Sahara Group to sell any of the land parcels in Aamby Valley in Maharashtra, carved out under a Bombay high court official liquidator’s plan, and deposit the proceeds into the Sebi-Sahara account by 15 May in order to avert the auction scheduled to held on 2 June.
The plan of the official liquidator of the Bombay HC—involving five land parcels in Aamby Valley, each over 1,000 acres in size—has been submitted to the court. A valuation report that has not been opened yet has been submitted in a sealed cover to the court as well. The bids will be invited from 21 May to 31 May.
The court directed for initiation of a valuation process of the shares in Sahara Group as well, which could be sold off later towards the satisfaction of default amount.
Sebi had moved the apex court in August 2014 to recover Rs36,000 crore from Sahara to refund investors who purchased securities from two group firms. The market regulator had asked the court to appoint a receiver who would dispose of Sahara’s domestic and offshore properties, and raise the money.
The matter will be next heard on 12 July.