Sahara case: Subrata Roy moves SC for stay on Aamby Valley property auction

Subrata Roy’s Sahara Group on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking not to auction the Aamby Valley property. The group said that some developments are being made on refund of money to capital market regulator Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India). 

Last month the Supreme Court directed the Bombay High Court liquidator to start the process of selling Sahara's Aamby Valley property. Sahara was also asked to deposit Rs. 1,500 crore with market regulator Sebi by September 7 in the SEBI-Sahara refund account by September 7.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear Sahara's petition soon. A three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra was informed by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Roy, that the Sahara chief has deposited Rs 247 crore as against the promised amount of Rs 552.21 crore which was to be deposited in the refund account by July 15.

Sibal told the bench, also comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri, that the balance amount of Rs 305.21 crore out of the Rs 552.21 crore would be deposited by August 12.

The bench, however, said that Rs 1,500 crore which Roy would deposit by September seven would also include the balance amount of Rs 305.21 crore.

The apex court extended the parole granted to him earlier till October 10. The bench asked the official liquidator of the Bombay High Court to proceed with the publication of sale notice with regard to auctioning of Sahara’s prime property at Aamby Valley.

The bench fixed the matter for further hearing on September 11. On July 5, the apex court had noted that Roy had deposited Rs 710.22 crore in the SEBI-Sahara account, but had warned him that his cheque of Rs 552.21 crore must be realised within the July 15 deadline.

Roy had earlier told the court that he will pay Rs 1,500 crore on or before June 15 and Rs 552.22 crore exactly a month thereafter.

He has spent almost two years in jail and been on parole since May 6 last year. The parole was granted the first time to enable him attend the funeral of his mother. It has been extended since then.

Besides Roy, two other directors—Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary—were arrested for failure of the group’s two companies—Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) -- to comply with the court’s August 31, 2012 order to return Rs 24,000 crore to their investors.

Another company director Vandana Bhargava was not taken into custody. 

With PTI Inputs