Following a petition by the Ministry of Cooperation, the Supreme Court on March 29 ordered the reimbursement from the Sahara-SEBI refund account to about 10 crore investors. The investors belong to four cooperative societies of the Sahara Group, the Ministry said in a statement.
The court was requested that ₹5,000 crore from the Sahara-SEBI refund account be used to pay the depositors. The court ordered that out of the balance amount in the Sahara-SEBI refund account, ₹5,000 crore be transferred to the Central Registrar.
Sahara Group’s four societies— Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Saharayan Universal Multipurpose Society Limited, Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited, and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited, were registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 between March 2010 and January 2014.
The Ministry said many complaints were received from across the country regarding non-payment to the depositors. “Taking cognisance of the complaints, notices were issued to the societies and hearing was held before the Central Registrar. During hearings, the Central Registrar directed the societies to pay the unpaid amount to the investors and stopped the societies from taking fresh deposits and renewing existing ones,” it said.
“The Ministry of Cooperation digitised about 1.22 lakh claims received from the depositors and sent them to these committees for payment, but the committees did not take necessary action in this regard. Everyday, many applications are being received from depositors for payment of their investments,” the Ministry added.
As per the directions of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, the Ministry held several meetings with the Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Revenue, SEBI, SFIO and the Enforcement Directorate. The Ministry filed a petition in this regard before the Supreme Court for a status report and resolution of the matter.
Payment in nine months
The Ministry added that under the supervision of the retired judge R. Subhash Reddy, and with the assistance of advocate Gaurav Agarwal, the Central Registrar would complete the payment process in nine months. The payment to the investors would be made through a transparent process to the legitimate investor through their bank accounts based on proper proof of their identity and deposit.
The Sahara-Sebi escrow account was formed after the apex court in August 2012 directed two Sahara firms— Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing India Corporation Limited (SHICL)— to refund investors.
