Calling it an insult, the Supreme Court today ticked off the Sahara Group for not coming out with a proper proposal for refunding investors money after making it assemble a special bench and asked the company to come out with an “honourable” plan.
Subrata Roy will remain in Tihar jail till next Tuesday when the court posted the matter for further hearing.
Rejecting Sahara’s proposal, the apex court expressed displeasure that the Sahara Group asked for assembling of the special bench to hear the matter but did not provide a proper proposal. “It’s an insult to us,” it observed.
The Sahara Group submitted that it was ready to make a cash payment of Rs 2,500 crore within three days and gave an assurance that it will pay the rest of Rs 14,900 crore in five instalments by the end of July, 2015.
A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar rejected the proposal after SEBI also opposed it on the ground that Group is supposed to pay Rs 34,000 crore and not just Rs 17,400 crore which it today agreed to pay.
“It is not a proper proposal and the proposal should be honourable,” the bench said.
“You make us assemble (sitting of the special bench) and then you are saying that you won’t be able to pay the money.
It is a big insult to us. It is not proper in my view. You should not make us assemble if you don’t have a proper proposal to make,” Justice Khehar said.
Senior advocate C A Sundaram, who was accompanied by other senior lawyers, tried to convince the court that it is not possible at this stage to raise more money as the main person, Roy, is behind bars and his people have no access to him in judicial custody.
“The one person who can find money is not in a position to do it. He is the only one who can arrange money. He can work out if he is allowed to get out. We are also not allowed to access him,” he pleaded.