SC allows Centre's plea seeking Rs 5,000 cr from SEBI-Sahara fund to repay depositors

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a plea by the Centre seeking allocation of Rs 5,000 crore out of Rs 24,000 crore deposited by the Sahara group with market regulator Sebi to repay its depositors.

The direction came on an application filed by the Centre in a PIL by a person, named Pinak Pani Mohanty, who sought a direction to pay the amount to the depositors who invested in several chit fund companies and Sahara credit firms.

A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar said the amount shall be disbursed to depositors duped by the Sahara group of cooperative societies.

The entire process will be monitored by former apex court judge Justice R Subhash Reddy, the bench said.

The Centre had sought money from the SEBI-Sahara Sahara-Sebi escrow account that was formed after the top court in August 2012 directed two Sahara firms — Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing India Corporation Limited (SHICL) — to refund investors.