Sahara gets another day to file reply in SC
04 Dec 2012
The Supreme Court today deferred by a day its demand on Monday that the Sahara Group furnish details about compliance with its order to refund Rs27,000 crore that it had mopped up from investors through optionally fully convertible debentures; after Sahara sought more time to make a statement.
After senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for the Sahara Group's two indicted real estate companies - Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd - sought more time to furnish the details, the apex court's bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir with Justices S S Nijjar and J Chelameswar adjourned the hearing to Wednesday.
Subramaniam told the court that the group needed more time to go through the requisite documents to furnish the details of the refund of the investors' money it has to make in pursuance of the apex court's direction.
The Supreme Court had slammed the Sahara group's real estate companies on Monday, saying their intentions were "shady" in the matter of returning the investors' money mopped up through debentures; and it had given the firms seven days to pay up.
"You have no intention of returning (the investors' money). Your intentions are shady," said the apex court bench.
The Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation had challenged in the court an order issued by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), which earlier rejected their plea to direct its registrar to accept a pay order of Rs5,120 crore.
The pay order was meant to be deposited with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) by 30 November for refund to investors.
The court on 31 August directed the companies to return to investors Rs17,400 crore with 15 per cent interest that it had collected through OFCDs in 2008 and 2009 (See: SC orders Sahara Group firms to refund Rs17,400 crore to investors).
