Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday told the Hyderabad High Court it was not considering any proposal to have a joint venture with Essel group’s Subhash Chandra Foundation to take over Agri-Gold which sank into financial crisis following allegations of financial irregularities.
The AP Government’s Special Government Pleader Krishna Prakash submitted to the High Court that the government had adopted this stand on the proposal of joint venture. Earlier, the Foundation had claimed that AP Government was examining a proposal to create joint venture to take over the company.
The submission was made before a division bench of the High Court comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice S.V. Bhatt. The bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation petition filed by AgriGold Depositors and Agents Welfare Association seeking a probe by the CBI into the alleged scam in the company and returning of money to the depositors.
The Foundation, during the previous hearing, had filed an affidavit on the matter. It stated that it was unwilling to move ahead with the proposal of taking over the company. It was financially unviable as the assets of the company were valued at ₹2,500 crore while the liabilities were nearly ₹10,000 crore.
The petitioner’s counsel requested the bench to impose exemplary costs on the Foundation stating that it had wasted valuable time of the High Court. Initially, the Foundation mooted a proposal raising hopes of depositors but eventually backed out, the counsel said.
He represented to the bench to expedite the investigation into the alleged diversion of money by the company management.
The bench stated that the High Court had the option of going ahead with the auctioning of the properties to secure investments made by the depositors. It directed the AP Government to identify 10 high-value properties of AgriGold company.
Each property should be valued ₹100 crore or more and unencumbered by any bank to ensure the property can be auctioned. The bench instructed the Andhra Bank and the State Bank of India to make fresh valuation of the mortgaged properties of AgriGold company and issue notices under SARFESI Act. A report should be presented to the court on the points, the bench said adjourning the case to June 5.
