[ecis2016.org] The apex consumer commission NCDRC has held Sahara Developers guilty for ‘deficiency of service’, and directed it to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation for ‘mental agony and financial loss’ suffered by a homebuyer
Holding Sahara Developers guilty for ‘deficiency of service’, apex consumer commission NCDRC has directed it to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation for ‘mental agony and financial loss’ suffered by a homebuyer, along with refund of Rs 4.06 lakhs, for a delay of more than 10 years in handing over possession. Along with the compensation and refund, the NCDRC also directed Sahara Prime City Limited to pay interest at the rate of 10 per cent on the total amount of Rs 4.06 lakhs paid by Alwar-resident Tapasya Palawat. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) also asked the developers to pay Rs 25,000 as litigation costs to Palawat.
You are reading: NCDRC holds Sahara Developers guilty of deficient services, directs it to pay compensation, refund
Palawat had booked a flat with Sahara Prime City Limited on February 10, 2006, depositing a total sum of Rs 4.06 lakh. According to her complaint, she approached the developers time and again for possession but though she was assured that the construction would start, there was no progress. She was allotted a flat in August, 2009. However, she fell ill during the time and after recovery from her illness she was told by the developer that her allotment was cancelled. Palawat expressed her willingness to pay the due amount and accept possession, which was refused by the developer, the complaint said. In 2013, the Rajasthan Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission had directed the developer to refund Rs 4.06 lakh to Palawat along with interest of 12 per cent and Rs 1 lakh towards compensation and costs.
SC directs Sahara chief Subrata Roy to appear before it on February 28, 2019
The Supreme Court has directed the Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy, who is out on parole, to appear before it on February 28, 2019, for the Group’s failure to deposit the remaining amount of Rs 10,000 crores, for returning money to its investors
January 31, 2019: The Supreme Court, on January 31, 2019, directed Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy to appear before it on February 28, 2019, for failing to deposit Rs 25,700 crores in the SEBI-Sahara account, for returning investors’ money. The apex court said that six months were given to Sahara by its last order to arrange the amount but what has transpired during the period, has not inspired the confidence of the court.
A bench headed by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi noted that the Group had deposited only Rs 15,000 crores. The bench, also comprising justices AK Sikri and SK Kaul, declined to give any further chance to Roy and other directors, to comply with its previous orders. It said it had decided to proceed with the matter, so that the law takes its own course and directed Roy and the other directors to appear before it personally, on next date of hearing.
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Roy, who has spent almost two years in jail, has been on parole since May 6, 2017. 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 over Rs 24,000 crores to their investors.
SEBI cracks down on Sahara again, orders over Rs 14,000-crore refund with 15 per cent interest
In a fresh set of woes for the Sahara Group, SEBI has ordered a company of the Group to refund over Rs 14,000 crores, which it raised in violation of the rules and also imposed 15 per cent annual interest on the amount
November 2, 2018: In a fresh crackdown on the Sahara Group, regulator SEBI has found another group firm to have raised over Rs 14,000 crores in violation of rules and has ordered the company and its then directors, including Subrata Roy, to refund the money with 15 per cent annual interest. The order, which also bars the company, Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd (SICCL), as well as its then directors and associated entities from the markets and from associating with any public entity, relates to collecting funds between 1998 and 2009 from nearly two crore investors, through issuance of certain bonds.
SEBI has passed this new order when a long-running legal dispute is going on in the Supreme Court, over an earlier order from the capital markets regulator, asking two other Sahara firms in 2011 to refund over Rs 24,000 crores garnered by issuing similar bonds – the optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs) – to nearly three crore people. While Sahara has been asked to refund the money to a special SEBI account under a Supreme Court-monitored repayment process, the Group has been saying it has already refunded more than 98 per cent of the amount directly to investors and the proof for the same have been given to SEBI. Besides, Sahara has also deposited a large amount to the SEBI account but has alleged that the regulator has been able to disburse only a small portion to investors.
Sahara’s stand has been that the investors are not approaching SEBI for refund, as they have already got their money.
In the case of SICCL too, the SEBI order mentioned that the company made submissions that it has already refunded the money collected from the investors in cash, barring Rs 18 crores, for which the bondholders did not turn up for the refund. However, the regulator said the company did not provide any proof for repayment through banking channels. In her 54-page order, SEBI’s whole time member Madhabi Puri Buch, said the repayments must be done through non-transferrable bank demand draft or pay order, while the refund amount directions would be modified for the money claimed to have been already returned to investors, provided the payments are made through prescribed route and are certified by peer-reviewed chartered accountants.
[ecis2016.org] SC gives Sahara time till May 15, 2018, to sell properties in Aamby Valley
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In case of the refund to be made by Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy and others party to the earlier SEBI orders against two other Sahara firms, the amount needs to be deposited in the existing SEBI-Sahara account, from which the regulator would make further refunds to concerned investors, after permission from the Supreme Court. Earlier in 2011, SEBI had ordered Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) to refund the money raised from investors through OFCD route.
SEBI said it came across the alleged irregularities relating to SICCL, while it was investigating the other two companies. SEBI found that SICCL had made an offer of OFCDs in financial years 1998-2009 and raised an amount of at least Rs 14,106 crores from 1,98,39,939 investors. “I am of the view that SICCL engaged in fund mobilising activity from the public, through the offer of OFCDs and has contravened the provisions of the Companies Act,” Buch said in the order dated October 31, 2018.
The company submitted that it was not a public fund raising, as the money was raised through a private placement of OFCDs to an identified target group, comprising of its workers, employees, friends, associates and individuals having deposits or association with Group entities. SEBI, however, rejected this submission, saying any private placement to more than 50 persons becomes a public offer.
Accordingly, the regulator has ordered SICCL, Subrata Roy, OP Shrivastava, JB Roy, AS Rao, Ranoj Das Gupta, as well as legal representatives of late DS Thapa, late PS Mishra and late YN Saxena, to jointly and severally refund the money collected by the company through the issuance of OFCD, along with an interest of 15 per cent per annum. As per the order, all these individuals are former directors of the company and the refund amount would be for the amount raised during their directorship.
SICCL, Subrata Roy and others, have also been directed to provide a full inventory of all the assets and properties and details of all the bank accounts, demat accounts and holdings of mutual fund, shares and securities if held in physical form and demat form, of the company. “SICCL and Subrata Roy are permitted to sell the assets of the company for the sole purpose of making the refunds, as directed above and deposit the proceeds in the SEBI-Sahara refund account. Such proceeds shall be utilised, with the permission of the Supreme Court, for the purpose of making refund/repayment to the investors of SICCL,” the regulator noted.
In case of failure of respective entities to repay within three months, SEBI warned that it would initiate its recovery proceedings. SICCL, Subrata Roy and other former directors have been barred from accessing the securities market ’till the expiry of four years from the date of completion of refunds to investors’.
Besides, SEBI has barred Sahara India from the securities markets for four years. Sahara India – a partnership firm belonging to the Sahara Group with Subrata Roy as managing partner – acted as ‘arranger’ to the OFCD and facilitated the issue as merchant banker.
Source: https://ecis2016.org/.
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Source: https://ecis2016.org
Category: Lifestyle
