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After the Centre sought more time to reply to an application by Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd (SICCL) requesting permission to sell its assets across the country to Adani Properties Private Limited, the Supreme Court Monday agreed to take up the matter after six weeks.
Sahara has sought to sell 88 properties, including the sprawling 8,810-acre Aamby Valley City in Maharashtra, to raise money to refund its investors.
Hearing it on October 14, the SC sought the responses of the Centre and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to the application.
On Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, urged the bench also comprising Justices Surya Kant and M M Sundresh to grant more time to respond. The SC agreed to this.
Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Shekhar Naphade, who is the amicus curiae in the matter, informed the court that he had received at least 34 claims in respect of the properties “which Sahara has not disclosed.” He suggested that Sebi “publish a notice in the newspaper inviting objections to all these 88 properties.”
He added that he has also been receiving claims to various properties, which Sahara has either sold or leased out.
Appearing for Sahar, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal said that many of the documents were forged.
Naphade also pointed out that the descriptions provided for certain properties are vague, thereby making it difficult for anyone to raise objections. To which, Sibal said he would respond if given the details.
Solicitor General Mehta urged the bench also to make the Union Ministry of Cooperation a party in the matter, as many cooperative societies have been formed by Sahara, and their depositors are involved. Accordingly, the bench made the Union ministry a party.
Sahara Group, which is facing litigation before the top court in connection with demands for refunds to investors, has so far deposited only about Rs 16,000 crore in the Sebi-Sahara Refund Account, out of the principal amount of Rs 24,030 crore.
The Sahara application said that after multiple unsuccessful attempts to sell its assets, it had finally found a “credible buyer” — Adani Properties Private Limited — to purchase 88 properties together. The plea said that the efforts to sell were also complicated by multiple investigating agencies initiating inquiries against the family members of late Subrata Roy and other senior officials of the Sahara Group.
“The said parallel and uncoordinated actions are not only creating confusion, conflicting narratives, and unwarranted doubt in the mind of investors/ depositors but are also effectively hampering, and are likely to hamper further, the ongoing efforts of the Sahara Group to monetise its assets and comply with the directions of this court,” the application said.
It pointed out that the decision to sell all properties in one block instead of in a piecemeal fashion was taken owing to the “unauthorised and disruptive conduct…of certain…individuals, who, acting without any lawful mandate, sought to alienate valuable assets of the Sahara Group” following the death of its founder, Subrato Roy Sahara, in 2023.
