The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the embattled Sahara Group, asking why a receiver should not be appointed to take over and sell its properties for repayment of Rs 36,000 crore to investors.
Sahara has four weeks to reply to the top court’s notice. A receiver is a person who is given the custodial responsibility of others’ properties.
Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had earlier moved the Supreme Court for appointment of a receiver of Sahara’s properties.
Sahara Group has been engaged in a long-running regulatory and legal battle with Sebi ever since the capital market regulator ordered refund by two Sahara entities.
The Supreme Court had earlier said that Sahara owes as much as Rs 36,000 crore to bond investors, which it has to deposit within 18 months and in 9 instalments. The top court also ruled that if its chief Sahara chief Subrata Roy fails to deposit any three instalments, he and two other directors of Sahara, who are also currently in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, will be taken into custody. Sahara Group’s chief Subrata Roy is in jail for over a year now after failing to arrange Rs 10,000 crore in bail amount.
Sahara, whose assets include the landmark hotels Plaza in New York and Grosvenor House in London, has in the past year made several failed attempts to raise the money from its hotels and some other properties in India.