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Sahara to SC: Can’t pay Rs 10k cr
Legal Correspondent

Offers new refund plan The group, however, offered a better repayment plan under which Rs 2,500 crore would be paid immediately and another Rs 2,500 crore within three weeks of Roy and other directors release Under the earlier proposal, the group had offered to refund Rs 20,000 crore within 1.5 years in quarterly instalments Roy and the directors have been in Tihar Jail here since March 4 on an apex court order for their failure to refund about Rs 20,000 crore to the investors through market regulator SEBI

New Delhi, April 3
The Sahara group today expressed its inability to pay Rs 10,000 crore at one go for securing the release of its jailed chief Subrata Roy and two directors, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary, as directed by the Supreme Court.

The group, however, offered a better repayment plan under which Rs 2,500 crore would be paid immediately and another Rs 2,500 crore within three weeks of Roy and other directors’ release. Under the earlier proposal, the group had offered to refund Rs 20,000 crore within 1.5 years in quarterly instalments. Roy and the directors have been in Tihar Jail here since March 4 on an apex court order for their failure to refund about Rs 20,000 crore to the investors through market regulator SEBI.

A Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar today clarified that its conditional bail offered to the three on payment of Rs 10,000 crore did not mean that it was the bail amount. It merely wanted to ensure that the group repaid at least 50 per cent of the principal amount the companies owed to the investors.

Further, sending them to jail was not for committing contempt court. It was passed under the special powers enjoyed by the SC under Article 142 meant for ensuring complete justice, the Bench explained. Responding to the fresh repayment plan, the Bench asked the group to file an application to this effect so that it could consider it.

Two Sahara companies - Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp Ltd - had mobilised about Rs 25,780 crore through debenture issues which was declared illegal by Securities Appellate Tribunal and upheld by the SC.