Sebi-Sahara case: Supreme Court summons Subrata Roy on February 28

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Sahara group chief Subrata Roy to be personally present before it on February 28 to explain why he had failed to pay his entire dues worth Rs25,781 crore excluding interest, despite being given “several opportunities and indulgence.”

As on date, Sahara has deposited around Rs20,000 crore in the Sebi-Sahara account, which includes principal Rs15,160 crore and Rs4,800 crore interest and is liable to pay a further Rs10,621 crore, according to Sebi.

A bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi expressed displeasure over the group’s failure to pay Rs25,781 crore since 2012. “Too much indulgence has been shown (to you)…Law will take its own course if (Roy) does not comply with the orders of the course… the matter has been listed after six months…and what has transpired in six months did not inspire confidence of this court,” the CJI said.

Justice Sikri remarked, “Two years back you had sought two years, we thought it was way too long a period, now those two years are over, yet payments have not been made.”

The top court also said that it will not get involved in selling properties, saying that it is not its job to sell assets.

Citing the bad real estate market as a factor that has prevented Sahara from paying up, senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Roy, said that it was not a case of default in payments. He also pointed out that even Sebi and the official liquidator of the Bombay High Court had failed in selling off the company’s flagship property Aamby Valley Project in Maharashtra, which is valued at around Rs38,000 crore.

The bench also rejected Roy’s plea that the market regulator be directed to conduct verification of the group’s claims of payments made to investors, saying this has been raised several times in the past.

“You are unable to deposit the money. We will ask whosoever is the person has to appear in person,” the bench said, adding, “we do not see the situation changing. You had sought two years time and now more than two years have passed. You have been given sufficiently long rope.”

In a bid to raise money, a bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had given its nod to the auction of the Aamby Valley in May 2018 after it failed to deposit Rs750 crore in the Sebi-Sahara refund account in consonance with the May 15 deadline. Two months later, the auction was suspended after Sebi failed to receive any bids from prospective buyers.

The embattled Sahara group has been locked in a prolonged legal battle with capital markets regulator Sebi for allegedly breaching norms in raising over Rs24,000 crore through certain bonds. The group was asked by the Supreme Court to deposit the funds with Sebi for refund to investors, even as it maintains to have already refunded majority of the bondholders.

Sahara group chief Subrata Roy and its two directors are out on parole since May 2016, after spending two years at Delhi’s Tihar Jail. Roy and others are in judicial custody since March 4, 2014 for not complying with the apex court’s August 31, 2012 and December 5, 2012, orders relating to the refund over Rs24,029 crore raised from 3 crore bond investors by two group firms. The parole was first granted to enable Roy to attend the funeral of his mother and since then it has been extended from time to time.