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The Supreme Court said the amount would be paid to actual depositors in nine months. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed a petition by the Center seeking the award of Rs 5,000 crore out of Rs 24,000 crore deposited by Sahara Group with market regulator Sebi to repay the fees of depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies. The order followed an application filed by the Center in a PIL by a person named Pinak Pani Mohanty, who requested an instruction to pay the amount to depositors who invested in various Sahara bond fund companies and credit companies.
A panel of judges, MR Shah and CT Ravikumar, noted that the amount was not used in the "Sahara-SEBI Reimbursement Account".
The High Court said that the sentence requested in this application appears to be reasonable and should be in the broader public interest and in the interest of the true depositors of the Sahara Cooperative Societies Group.
"Of the total amount of Rs. 24,979.67 crore in the 'Sahara-SEBI Repayment Account', Rs. legitimate dues of the depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies, to be paid to the genuine depositors in the most transparent manner and with proper identification. said the bank.
The high court also ordered the entire disbursement process to be overseen by former high court judge R Subhash Reddy with the help of attorney Gaurav Agarwal who has been appointed as amicus curiae to assist Judge Reddy as well as the Central Registrar of Co - Operating companies.
"The form and terms of payment must be drawn up by the Central Registrar of Co-operative Societies in consultation with Justices Reddy and Agarwal.
"Rs 15 lakhs per month will be paid to Judge R Subhash Reddy, former judge of this Court, and Rs 5 lakhs per month will be paid to Gaurav Agarwal, Amicus Curiae learned for his fees," the court said.
The High Court further ordered that the amount be paid to the respective bona fide depositors of the Sahara Cooperative Societies Group no later than nine months from today.
The balance amount will then be transferred back to the Sahara-SEBI reimbursement account, it said.
The Center had requested money from the SEBI-Sahara Sahara-Sebi escrow account that had been created after the High Court ordered in August 2012 two Saharawi companies - Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing India Corporation Limited (SHICL) - - to reimburse investors.
