 "Sahara chief Subrata Roy, in prison in Delhi since March 2014 at Lucknow airport after being allowed to leave prison for four weeks for the funeral of his mother Chhabi Roy. (Photo: PTI)")
The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the provisional release of Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy till July 11. The five-week extension was on the condition that Roy (pictured) submit an undertaking to deposit Rs 200 crore by July 11, when the matter will come up for hearing again.
As part of this arrangement, Roy has to deposit total a sum of Rs 500 crore. While Rs 200 crore is to be deposited by July 11, the remaining is to be deposited by the first week of August.
Last week, the apex court had allowed Roy and his brother-in-law Ashok Roy Choudhury to attend the last rites of Roy’s mother, who passed away on Friday. The duo were to be accompanied by five plain-clothes policemen.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur noted that the group has submitted a list of all its immovable assets both in India and abroad.
The value of these assets, submitted in a sealed cover to the court by Sahara counsel Kapil Sibal, was enough to cover the dues of the group “many times over”, the Bench observed. However, it did not disclose the exact amount of the value of assets as Sibal requested that it not be made public.
After submitting the list of assets, Sibal came up with a proposal wherein he wanted to submit two post-dated cheques of Rs 500 crore and Rs 4,500 crore as security for extending his provisional release by two more months till August 4.
According to the plan proposed by Sibal, the first Rs 500 crore would be payable in 60 days and the second amount in 180 days (six months).
Sibal also referred to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) status report, which said that 60 properties that are put up for sale are worth Rs 5,605 crore at circle rates. “They are secure to that extent.”
Thakur intervened, saying: “This place is full of previous promises and broken promises.” He said the payment by Roy should not be linked to the sale process by Sebi, which expressed doubts about the title deeds and land use.
Sebi counsel Arvind Datar said issues have cropped on the land use status of various properties that are being put on sale. “There are differences in land use. In some cases, the title deed said residential, but other records said it is agricultural.”
Further, on large parcels of land running into acres, the circle rates are different for areas near the highway and those in the interiors, creating difficulties in valuing these for sale.
To the Bench’s query on how far it is from the first sale, Datar said it might take two more weeks. While Sebi expressed its concerns that the extension of the release of Roy would amount to altering the original bail order, amicus curiae Shekar Naphade asked the Bench if it should not ask the Rs 500 crore payment be made upfront. Naphade also questioned the group’s reluctance to sell Aamby Valley and overseas properties. “The reluctance to sell these properties creates doubt.”
Sahara counsels Sibal and Rajeev Dhavan explained the difficulties they faced while attempting to sell the overseas properties. They also said Sebi should be worried about the money and not which property was on sale. Judge Anil Dave remarked, “What you can sell, you don’t want to sell. What you want to sell, you can’t sell.”
