Supreme Court granted some more time to Sahara to pay off the fine. SC asked SEBI, the market regulator of Securities and Exchange, to accept the extension application of Sahara Real Estate Firms.

Dance time comes back to Sahara

Sahara Real Estate Firms finally had some breath of relaxation. Accepting Sahara’s plea, SC asked SEBI to accept their application for more time to pay off the amount.

Sahara Real Estate Firms were ordered to refund the money collected through debentures. Nearly 3-Crore investors are said to have investment in these firms.

Sahara firms had failed to accomplish the Aug 31 order of the Supreme Court. Supreme Court’s Aug 31 Order necessitated the Sahara Real Estate Firms to pay an amount of Rs.17400 Cr along with 15 % interest.

As per the apex court’s order the fined amount was to be submitted in front of the Securities and Exchange Board of India within 3 months’ time. Sahara Real Estate Firms failed to complete the order.

The Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, ordered the Real Estate Firms to deposit Rs.5,120 Cr soon. Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice S.S. Nijjar also were part of the SC bench. Sahara Group companies – the Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation – will have to deposit the remaining amount in two installments.

Sahara companies are ordered to deposit Rs.10,000 Cr in January first week.  The second installment is to be made in February first week. SEBI is empowered to seize their accounts in case if they fail again in January 2013.

Sahara companies’ advocated Gopal Subramaniam informed the SC that the firms have repaid some investors who came earlier. He argued that the amount is still not excluded from the fine.

He asked the court to remove the amount from the fund. In reply the apex court asked the firms to produce the relevant documents to the market regulator within a couple of weeks.

The court discarded the market regulator -SEBI’s appeal to recall the modifications made by the judges who passed it. Senior counsel Vikas Singh, who appeared for one of the Sahara companies, said that the court has passed the order to protect the investors’ interest.

Supreme Court made the Aug 31 Order finding that the Sahara companies had raised the fund through OFCDs. The court found out that some of the investors were fake and not real. So the court asked them to refund the amount to the investors.