 "Sahara to sell Grosvenor House to Qatar")
The Bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur directed the regulator to appoint an expert agency and execute the sale of these assets under the supervision of retired judge B N Agarwal.
The move to allow direct sale by Sebi opens a new avenue for realisation of the dues, which have now swelled to nearly Rs 40,000 crore, even as the court adjourned the hearing on a petition to appoint an official receiver and other related matters to April 27.
In a statement issued after the hearing, the group clarified that these properties do not include Aamby Valley or the overseas properties, and that the court has asked to take Sahara’s inputs in the sale process.
Aamby Valley City is a township developed by Sahara in Pune district, Maharashtra. It is about 120 km from Mumbai. Sebi counsel Arvind Datar told the court that he will come up with a plan for the sale of unencumbered assets as early as next week.
While Sahara had declared these properties, whose title deeds it had submitted with Sebi, to be worth over Rs 20,000 crore, the court allowed Sebi to sell these properties at values not less than 90 per cent of the prevailing circle/guideline rates.
Datar cited an earlier occasion, where when the court wanted to direct the sale of these assets and the Sahara counsel had objected saying these had third-party interests involved. That. in turn led, to the summoning of the group chief Subrata Roy to the court, from where he was sent to Tihar jail.
However, the judges suggested that Sebi take up the task for an early solution to the issue. Sebi initially wanted to take up the sale of Aamby Valley property, which itself was said to be worth over Rs 34,000 crore.
“Why should we sell 100 properties, if we can sell one and recover the money?” Datar asked. “Why are you making life difficult for Sebi?”
Justice Thakur said, “He (Roy) doesn’t want to sell that.” The court would allow the businessman that much discretion.
Judge Agarwal, who will supervise the sale process, had been appointed by the court in 2012 to supervise the refund process to the investors in optionally fully convertible debentures issued by two Sahara firms.
In the August 2012 order, the apex court had directed Sahara India Real Estate Corp and Sahara Housing Invest Corp to deposit with Sebi Rs 24,029 crore they had collected from over 29.6 million investors with an interest of 15 per cent within three months.
However, the Sahara firms paid only Rs 5,120 crore and claimed they had refunded the rest directly. The court did not accept this argument and sent the Sahara group chief Subrata Roy and two directors of the firms to Tihar Jail in March 2014 for not complying with refund orders.
It later set a bail amount of Rs 5,000 crore in cash and an equal amount in bank guarantee for their release.
The group has been struggling to comply with the conditions of the bail. On Tuesday, Sahara counsel Kapil Sibal told the court that the group was not able to find sellers for the properties as the market was bad and potential buyers are backing out because of the litigation involved. He argued that the continued detention of Roy was a matter of concern and such a detention had precedence in “no law” and “nowhere in the world”.
Judge Thakur shot back, “Don’t tell us nowhere in the world. Nowhere in the world (would you find) a man who says he has properties worth Rs 1,87,000 crore, but would not pay anything to this court.”
He also pointed out how this court has been an inspiration for jurisdictions around the world by pioneering instruments such as public interest litigations.
He made it clear that the Bench was not sitting in appeal over earlier orders passed by the court. “(The) only way, the man (Roy) can come out is by following the orders of the court.”
The court also declined Sibal's request to allow special facilities for Roy, which he had availed earlier for negotiations for sale of assets to raise the bail amount.
The Sahara statement added that it has completed the payment of Rs 5,000 crore cash component and only Rs 5,000 crore bank guarantee component was left.
Senior counsel of Sahara, Kapil Sibal has submitted that the worth of Sahara’s 86 properties whose original documents are with Sebi for long, is of worth of more than Rs 40,000 crores and is more than Rs 5,000 crores of the required bank guarantee.
In other related matters, the court summoned the directors of Sai Rydan, a developer based in Nallasopora for going back on undertaking to buy a plot of 270 acres in Vasai near Mumbai for Rs 1,100 crore. While it has paid around Rs 130 crore to Sahara, Sai Rydan complained of issues over developing the land area, a part of which comes under "wet lands" category.
The court exempted director of Divine Infra Solutions from further appearance after it paid up Rs 687 crore towards the purchase of Sahara's Choma property near Gurgaon. It directed Sebi to present some 357 cheques submitted by Divine for payment before passing further orders.
The court also issued notices to Sahara and Sebi on two petitions, one by a consumer who had purchased an apartment in Sahara’s housing project in Nagpur and another by the residents’ association of Aamby Valley, who wanted their rights to be protected in the event of the group going under receivership.
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UNDER THE HAMMER The Supreme Court has allowed Sebi to sell off Sahara’s property to recover dues in the illegal bonds case Total holdings, according to Sahara website Land 36,631 acres Market value of assets Rs 1,52,518 crore Title deeds given to Sebi in Dec 2013, following a proposal by Sahara counsel C A Sundaram NUMBER OF TITLE DEEDS 3,268 (for 86 properties) Locations 71 Total area 7,161 acres Total worth: Rs 20,172 crore NEW ROUTE FOR REDEMPTION Court order: SC has asked Sebi to develop a mechanism to sell Sahara’s properties Road ahead: Sebi will come up with the mechanism by next week. It can appoint an external agency for bidding & sale Supervision: By retired judge B N Agarwal |
