The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the commencement of the auction of Sahara group's price Lonavala asset in Maharashtra, the Aamby Valley property, which has a declared worth of Rs. 39,000 crore
A Special Bench of Justices Dipak Misra, Ranjan Gogoi and A.K. Sikri came out with the order after Sahara reneged on its undertaking to the court to pay over Rs. 5,000 crore into the Sahara-SEBI refund account towards its liability to investors.
The court had appointed the Bombay High Court official liquidator to conduct the formalities of the auction.
The Bench had issued repeated warnings to Sahara that it would auction the Aamby Valley if Sahara failed to meet its assurance to the court.
The court directed Sahara chief Subrata Roy, who is out on parole, to be present in the court on April 27, the next date of hearing.
In February, the court attached Aamby Valley property.
At one point, Justice Gogoi had asked why the court should even bother to ask Sahara for a list of other properties for public auction when the group already has the Aamby Valley.
Tightening the screws on Sahara, the court had recorded that the Aamby Valley was itself “substantial” enough for the recovery of the amount.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sahara, had pleaded that the Aamby Valley was the group's cash cow and the main source of generating revenue.
“If you take away all my resources, I will not have anything to generate money. What will I tell my banks?” Mr. Sibal had asked.
“This is not a question of banks. This is a question of obeying court orders,” Justice Misra had replied.
Mr. Sibal had claimed that 85 per cent of the investors have been paid.
