Supreme Court asks Sebi to sell 86 properties of Sahara group

Expressing displeasure over the repeated submission for the release of Sahara group Chief Subrata Roy, the Supreme Court (SC) told his counsel not to lecture the court but to argue on the merits of the case.

In a two hour-long hearing , the apex court also directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to sell 86 "unencumbered" properties of Sahara group, whose title deeds are with the market regulator, to generate the bail money for the release of Roy, who has been in jail since March 4, 2014.

During the course of hearing, the court took strong note of senior advocate and former Union minister Kapil Sibal's submission that the law and facts are on his (Roy) side and moreover, "nowhere in the world , persons are kept in jail for more than two years without any charges."

"Argue on facts and law and don't lecture us every time. Nowhere in the world it happens that a person claims to be a man of Rs 1.8 lakh crore and still does not pay Rs 10,000 crore for getting out," Justice Thakur said after another lawyer of the group, Rajeev Dhavan, made a plea for Roy's release in every hearing.

"You are in jail on the orders of this court. Which may be right or wrong. We are not sitting in appeal on that order," the court said, adding that the only way Subrata Roy can come out is by "complying with the orders of the court".

Referring to the court's earlier order, which had imposed conditions on Roy, the bench said: "It does not give us any pleasure. Court had taken a particular course. We have helped you to comply with the court order."

The court also said that the concept of public interest litigation (PIL) was also not there in other parts of the world.

Meanwhile, on the issue of raising money to meet the court's bail condition to deposit Rs 10,000 crore, the bench asked the capital markets regulator not to sell any of the properties of the beleaguered group below 90% of the circle rates.

Sahara's counsel Gautam Awasthi said in a statement that the group has completed the payment of Rs 5,000 crore cash component and only the bank guarantee component of Rs 5,000 crore is left.

Sibal submitted that since the worth of Sahara's 86 properties, whose original documents are with Sebi for long, is worth more than Rs 40,000 crore and is more than the bank guarantee of Rs 5,000 crore.

For the interim bail of 67-year-old Roy, the court had put conditions like a deposit of Rs 5,000 crore in cash and a bank guarantee of an equal amount and tough terms including the payment of the entire Rs 36,000 crore, which includes interest. The money will be paid back to Sahara investors.

The order, asking Sebi to proceed with the sale of properties, came when Sibal submitted that the group was finding it increasingly difficult to sell its properties in the current market environment.

The apex court asked Sahara group and Sebi to devise a mechanism under the supervision of Justice B N Aggarwal to sell properties and seek the help of "experts or expert agencies" if required in the process.

It also asked both the parties to constitute a committee for this purpose. Justice Aggarwal is currently overseeing the process of return of money to investors of Sahara.

The Sahara group said it has already submitted the title deeds to Sebi and the 86 properties do not include the "foreign properties of Sahara nor Aamby Valley City nor Sahara Star Hotel."

The bench said that the Sebi would appoint an agency to decide the mechanism for sale of Sahara properties to recover investors' money that Sahara groups' two companies – SIRECL and SHICL – had collected through optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCD).