SC allows Sahara Group to sell properties in any parcel of Aamby Valley before May 15

New Delhi:  The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Sahara Group to sell properties in any parcel of its choice at the Aamby Valley City Project in Maharashtra.

The court said that the sale of property has to be completed on or before May 15 and proceeds will have to be deposited in SEBI-Sahara refund account. But if Sahara Group fails to sell the Aamby Valley property, then Bombay High Court official liquidator will proceed with proposed auction, the apex court said.

The official receiver of the Bombay High Court in January had moved the Supreme Court seeking its directions, contending it was finding it difficult to maintain Sahara Group's Aamby Valley properties, which are to be auctioned.

The apex court, on November 23 last year, had taken note of the apprehension that there could be a possibility of encroachment and had directed the official receiver of the high court to act as the custodian of Aamby Valley properties till the conclusion of of auction.

Earlier, the apex court had granted liberty to two Bombay High Court judges to adopt procedures to facilitate the auctioning of Sahara's prized Aamby Valley properties and directed the official liquidator not to allow any obstruction in the process.

A special top court bench, comprising the chief justice and justices Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri, had earlier warned Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy, facing contempt proceedings, that it may send him to jail again, following a submission by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that there was confusion with regard to the title or ownership of some of the properties in Aamby Valley.

The Sahara Group had earlier sought 18 months to repay around Rs 9,000 crore balance of the principal amount of Rs 24,000 crore.

On August 10 last year, the apex court had rejected Sahara chief Subrata Roy's plea to put on hold the auction process.

Roy, who has spent almost two years in jail, has been on parole since May 6 last year. The parole was granted the first time to enable him attend the funeral of his mother. It has been extended since then.

Besides Roy, two other directors -- Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary -- were arrested for failure of the group's two companies -- Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) -- to comply with the court's August 31, 2012 order to return Rs 24,000 crore to their investors.

With PTI Inputs