SEBI said that despite granting various reliefs to Roy and his firms have neglected and failed to comply with orders passed by apex court. SEBI moved to the Apex Court seeking to direct Sahara firms to pay Rs 62,602.90 crore with respect to the orders of court. SEBI also said that Roy & his 2 firms– Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd. (SIRECL) & Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd. (SHICL) — are in gross violation of various orders passed by the apex court regarding the deposit of entire monies collected along with the interest. SEBI said that – “contemnors have not been complying with the orders passed by this Court despite the long rope provided to them & their liability is increasing daily. The contemnors are enjoying their release from custody’ as granted by this court vide order dated May 6, 20l6, further extended by this Court from time to time ‘without even any attempt at compliance with the orders passed by this Court”.
The SC in 2012 directed that SIRECL & SHICL will refund the amount collected from individual investors or group of investors with interest of 15 per cent per annum to Sebi.
The Sahara firms were also directed by the SC in 2012 to furnish the details with supporting documents to Sebi for establishing whether they had refunded any amount to the persons who had subscribed to the groups schemes. The Sebi said that as per the statements filed by Saharas on June 14, 2012, the outstanding liability of SIRECL as on April 30, 2012 stood at Rs 16,997 crores (principal amount) & the outstanding of liability of SHICL as on April 30,2012 stood at Rs 6352 crores (principal amount).
SEBI also said that inspite of giving clear directions the respondents in the case showed disregard to the court’s order and deliberately and wilfully didn’t comply with the orders and so they have committed contempt of court. The Sebi further stated that in terms of the 2012 order of the top court Sahara firms have till date deposited Rs 15,455.70 crore which has been invested in fixed deposits of various nationalised banks & as on September 30, 2020, the total amount along with interest earned in Sebi-Sahara refund account is Rs 22,589.01 crore.
On Jan 24, the SC had exempted Roy & 2 other directors from personal appearance till “further orders” in a case related to their alleged failure in depositing over Rs 25,700 crore in the Sebi-Sahara account for returning investors’ money. The Supreme Court, on Jan 31 last year, had directed Roy & two other directors, Ravi Shankar Dubey & Ashok Roy Choudhary, to personally appear before it “to enable the court to pass appropriate orders so that the law can take its own course & reach the desired conclusion”.
The auctioning process of Sahara group’s prized Aamby Valley properties was put off by the Supreme Court in 2018 after that it was informed that the auction notice did not elicit any response from prospective buyers. Roy & 2 other directors were arrested for the failure of the group’s 2 companies — SIRECL & SHICL — to comply with the Court’s Aug 31, 2012 order to return Rs 25,000 crore to their investors.
