SC refuses more time to Sahara chief for realisation of Rs 522-cr cheque

NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s plea to give him a month for encashment of a Rs 522-crore cheque issued to Sahara-SEBI account meant to be realised on July 15 and warned him of legal consequences if it was dishonoured for want of sufficient funds.

Sahara chief Subrata Roy. — PTI file photo

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 5

The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s plea to give him a month for encashment of a Rs 522-crore cheque issued to Sahara-SEBI account meant to be realised on July 15 and warned him of legal consequences if it was dishonoured for want of sufficient funds.

An earlier order issued by the top court required Roy to pay Rs 1,500 crore by June 15 and Rs 552 crore on July 15.

On behalf of Roy, senior counsel Kapil Sibal told a three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra that out of the Rs 1,500 crore, 790 crore had already been paid and the rest amount has also been paid. He said Sahara has deposited Rs 1,500.40 crore.

Sibal said out of Rs 24,000 crore amount ordered by the top court to be paid by Sahara, only Rs 9,000 crore remained.

He, however, requested the court to give more time to his client for the Rs 522-crore cheque meant to be realized on July 15. Sibal was supported by senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi who represented a Sahara company. Rohatgi – who said the court should give more time to his client – wanted the court to order verification of investors.

But the court turned down both the requests. Verification could be done after the entire money was deposited, it said.

The Bench also approved the terms and conditions for auction of properties at Sahara's Aamby Valley as prepared by official liquidator of the Bombay High Court Vinod Sharma.

Angry over non-payment of money, the top court had on April 17 decided to sell property worth Rs 34,000 crore belonging to the Sahara group in Maharashtra’s Aamby Valley and had sought Roy’s presence before it.

In November last, it had asked Roy to deposit Rs 600 crore more by February 6 in the refund account to remain out of jail and warned that failure to do so would result in his return to prison.

Roy was sent to Tihar jail on March 4, 2014. But the top court had on May 6, 2016 granted a four-week parole to Roy to attend the funeral of his mother. His parole has been extended by the court ever since.

Besides Roy, two other directors — Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary — were also arrested for the failure of two group companies, Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL), to comply with the court’s August 31, 2012, order to return Rs 24,000 crore to their investors. Director Vandana Bhargava was not taken into custody.