Will auction Aamby Valley if Rs 5,092 cr not paid: SC to Sahara

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 21

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sternly told Sahara Group that it would auction its Aamby Valley in Maharashtra if it failed to pay Rs 5,092.6 crore by April 13 as ordered by the court.

“We will auction your (Sahara) Aamby Valley project if the money is not deposited within the stipulated time period as promised,” a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said.

It directed an international real estate firm — which had shown willingness to buy Sahara’s stake in New York-based Plaza Hotel for $550 million — to deposit Rs 750 crore in the SEBI-Sahara refund account, instead of the court’s registry to show its bona fides.

The Bench had on February 28 given time till April 13 to Sahara to sell their properties and deposit Rs 5,092.64 crore towards refund of investors’ money.

The top court had on February 8 ordered to attach Sahara Group’s prime property Aamby Valley —situated in Pune district of Maharashtra estimated to be worth Rs 39,000 crore — for the company’s failure to pay over Rs 14,000 crore of the principal amount it owed to its investors.

It had also ordered Sahara to submit by February 20 a list of its properties free from encumbrances for auction to realise over Rs 14,000 crore, the remaining amount the company is supposed to pay to SEBI towards the money owed to duped investors.

The list has since been submitted to the court. It includes, Sahara Hospital, Lucknow; Sahara India Sadan Shakespear Sarani, Kolkatta; land at Sohna Road, Gurgaon; land at Najafgarh in Delhi; Sahara City Homes at Indore; Sahara City Homes at Lucknow; Sahara City Homes at Coimbatore; Sahara States, Bhopal; Sahara City Homes at Guna; Sahara City Homes, Land at Katni, MP; Sahara City Homes, Land at Haridwar; Sahara City Homes, land at Pune; land & building at Whiltefield, Bangalore; stake in Orange India Holdings Sarl, Silverstone, London and land at Ghaziabad.