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The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed Sahara group chief Subrata Roy’s plea to shift his judicial custody from Tihar jail here to his house in Lucknow. It, however, relaxed the conditions on sale of assets to raise Rs 10,000 crore for his release.
A bench of judges T S Thakur and A K Sikri also rejected Roy’s last-minute oral request for five-day parole to visit his 92-year-old mother. They said the condition of Roy’s mother needed to be verified first, adding all further requests by Roy would be considered by a bench of three judges, to be set up by the Chief Justice.
To raise money, the court allowed Sahara to sell immovable properties in nine cities. To enable the sale, the court asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to release the title deeds of the properties. It also allowed the encashment of fixed deposits and bonds; the cash will be deposited in a nationalised bank designated by Sebi.
Roy has been in jail for three months, owing to non-repayment of Rs 20,000 crore to 30 million investors who had bought bonds from two Sahara units. While an earlier bench had directed he be taken into judicial custody, a new bench had refused to relax the conditions for the release of Roy and two directors of the Sahara group.
On Wednesday, when the group’s lawyers sought Roy’s release, the bench said, “You are nowhere near meeting the conditions; you have to do a lot of homework.”
The court imposed conditions for the sale of properties and sought the deals be supervised. It said for these deals, the prices should not be less than the least stated before the court or the circle rates, and the valuations be disclosed to the court. Also, the sales shouldn’t be to related persons. On bank guarantees, the court said these should be from a scheduled or nationalised bank, not a cooperative one. To furnish bank guarantees, Sahara has been allowed to charge its immovable properties in its Aamby Valley township in Maharashtra.
Owing to the complexity of the issues involved, the court appointed lawyer F S Nariman as amicus curiae. His consent in the matter is yet to be sought.
Recently, 65-year-old Roy had challenged his detention, saying it was a human rights violation. However, the earlier bench had dismissed his writ petition. Later, a judge recused himself from hearing any Sahara-related case. Another judge retired and, at his farewell party, said he, along with his family, was subjected to unparalleled pressure during the hearing of the case.
A bench of judges T S Thakur and A K Sikri also rejected Roy’s last-minute oral request for five-day parole to visit his 92-year-old mother. They said the condition of Roy’s mother needed to be verified first, adding all further requests by Roy would be considered by a bench of three judges, to be set up by the Chief Justice.
To raise money, the court allowed Sahara to sell immovable properties in nine cities. To enable the sale, the court asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to release the title deeds of the properties. It also allowed the encashment of fixed deposits and bonds; the cash will be deposited in a nationalised bank designated by Sebi.
Roy has been in jail for three months, owing to non-repayment of Rs 20,000 crore to 30 million investors who had bought bonds from two Sahara units. While an earlier bench had directed he be taken into judicial custody, a new bench had refused to relax the conditions for the release of Roy and two directors of the Sahara group.
On Wednesday, when the group’s lawyers sought Roy’s release, the bench said, “You are nowhere near meeting the conditions; you have to do a lot of homework.”
The court imposed conditions for the sale of properties and sought the deals be supervised. It said for these deals, the prices should not be less than the least stated before the court or the circle rates, and the valuations be disclosed to the court. Also, the sales shouldn’t be to related persons. On bank guarantees, the court said these should be from a scheduled or nationalised bank, not a cooperative one. To furnish bank guarantees, Sahara has been allowed to charge its immovable properties in its Aamby Valley township in Maharashtra.
Owing to the complexity of the issues involved, the court appointed lawyer F S Nariman as amicus curiae. His consent in the matter is yet to be sought.
Recently, 65-year-old Roy had challenged his detention, saying it was a human rights violation. However, the earlier bench had dismissed his writ petition. Later, a judge recused himself from hearing any Sahara-related case. Another judge retired and, at his farewell party, said he, along with his family, was subjected to unparalleled pressure during the hearing of the case.
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THE SAHARA SOAP SO FAR How the Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy ended up in jail and is struggling to get out |
*Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd; #Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd |
