Sahara to deposit Rs 200 crore, seeks advancement of hearing

Earlier, the top court said it had been "taken for a ride" by the Sahara group by its past conduct and asked it to submit a roadmap for paying the balance amount

Sahara Group, on Thursday, told the Supreme Court that it would deposit Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India in pursuance of an earlier apex court direction and sought advancement of the hearing in the case.

"We will be happy to hear it," a bench comprising Justices A R Dave and A M Khanwilkar said when senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy, said Rs 200 crore which was to be deposited by October 24 would be submitted on Friday.

Sibal, assisted by lawyer Keshav Mohan, mentioned the matter and sought that it be heard on Friday instead of October 24, the date already fixed earlier by the bench.

"We will inform about this request to the chief justice," the bench said.

The Sebi-Sahara dispute is being heard by a three-judge bench comprising the CJI, Justice Dave and Justice A K Sikri.

The court, on September 28, had asked Sahara to deposit another Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) by October 24 while extending the interim order releasing Roy and two other directors on parole.

Earlier, the top court said it had been "taken for a ride" by the Sahara group by its past conduct and asked it to submit a roadmap for paying the balance amount of Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) to Sebi, as it extended the parole of Roy and others till October 24 on payment of Rs 200 crore.

It said Sahara did not disclose earlier that out of the list of 60 properties given to Sebi for sale, 47 were provisionally attached by Income Tax department.

During the hearing, senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for market regulator Sebi, had said that Sahara group was liable to pay Rs 37,000 crore (Rs 370 billion) with interest to Sebi, of which the principal amount payable was Rs 24,000 crore (Rs 240 billion).

Till now, Sahara has paid Rs 10,918 crore (Rs 109.18 billion) out of Rs 24,029 crore (Rs 240.29 billion) raised from investors, he had said.

While extending the parole of Roy and two directors - Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey - till October 24, the bench had directed the group to deposit Rs 200 crore by then, failing which they will be committed to jail.

Photograph: Reuters