The Supreme Court on Monday directed Sahara chief Subrata Roy to deposit additional Rs600 crore by February 6 or risk going back to jail. Unhappy with a proposal submitted by Sahara chief seeking a period of two-and-a-half years to repay the balance amount of Rs11,000 odd crores, the Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justices Rajan Gogoi and AK Sikri felt it was too long a time to ask for.
Demanding Rs1,000 crore to be deposited in the next two months, the Bench said, “You have already suffered two years in jail. Since demise of your mother (in May when court granted him bail) you have deposited only Rs1,200 crore. In two months, you deposit Rs1,000 crore or else we will consider appointing a receiver to dispose your property. We have avoided that till now as this will mean liquidation of your empire.”
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who represented Roy, told the court that market conditions were dull and the properties owned by the company were not fetching the desired sale price. He requested the SC to give his client three months to deposit the said amount. Roy gave an undertaking to surrender if he failed to abide by his promise. The Bench then modified its order by fixing a sum of Rs 600 crore to be deposited in the SEBI-Sahara refund account by February 6, 2017, the next date of hearing.
Sahara has paid close to Rs 11,000 crore to SEBI as part of a failed debenture scheme. SEBI maintains that the company has to still repay a sum of Rs 13,000 crore as part of the deposits gathered from investors of its debenture scheme. The Bench felt that looking into the several offers of payment given by Sahara, the company was not entitled to such concessions by way of time. Moreover, the Bench noted, “You (Sahara) have an empire worth Rs 1.87 lakh crore and what you are required to give is merely Rs 20,000 crore.”