NEW DELHI: Giving an ultimatum to Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy, the Supreme Court on Monday asked him to deposit Rs 600 crore more by February 6 next year in the SEBI-Sahara refund account to remain out of jail and if he fails to do, he would have to return to prison. A Bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and justices Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri also said it may consider appointing a receiver of properties if the group finds itself unable to sell them to pay back dues to investors.
“If you (Sahara Group) are unable to sell properties, then the court would be comfortable to appoint a receiver,” the Bench said, adding it also did not want to keep a person in jail. Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of Sahara, submitted that the group has deposited the money in pursuance of an earlier direction and filed a fresh re-payment plan to the court. The Bench then asked senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for SEBI, and another senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, the amicus curiae, to file their response on the new repayment plan submitted by the group.
During the hearing, the Bench asked Sahara how much it has deposited after he came out of jail following the death of his mother. Sibal responded, “I have deposited Rs 1,200 crore after that and Rs 11,000-odd crore has been deposited and around Rs 11,036 crore is remaining.” Sibal, however, said as per SEBI, the dues are to the tune of Rs 14,000 crore.
Meanwhile, the Bench said the group may approach it for selling properties below 90 per cent of the circle rate. SEBI had earlier said Sahara Group was liable to pay Rs 37,000 crore with interest to it, of which the principal amount payable was Rs 24,000 crore. In September, while extending the parole of Roy and two directors Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey until October 24, the Bench had directed the group to deposit Rs 200 crore by then, failing which they will be sent to jail.