Aamby Valley Auction To Go On, Says Supreme Court
Supreme Court says Sahara Group has granted many opportunities to group chief Subrata Roy to save the property.
Sahara’s flagship Aamby Valley property will be put up for auction, ordered the Supreme Court on Monday, adding that the group’s chief Subrata Roy had been granted many opportunities to save it.
The court has drawn up a schedule to wrap up the bidding process by January 16, 2018. The auction will be held in Mumbai.
Here’s the timeline of the auction as prescribed by the Supreme Court:
- August 14: Publication in newspapers about the auction
- August 29-September 9: KYC forms to be submitted by prospective bidders
- September 11-September 20: Qualified intending bidders can access information of the property
- September 19-September 20: Physical inspection of properties by the intending bidder
- September 21-October 3: Bids to be recieved in sealed cover by the official liquidator along with an 15 percent earnest money deposit
- October 10-October 11: Auction sale at a venue directed by the Supreme Court
- October 17: Intimation will be given to the highest three bidders through emails. Others will be refunded their deposits.
- October 17-November 16: Successful bidder has to pay 50 percent of the purchase price
- November 17-December 16: Successful bidder to pay 25 percent of the purchase price
- December 17-January 16: Successful bidder to pay the balance 25 percent of the purchase price
- The apex court will then confirm the sale of the property. Six months from this confirmation, a lease will be executed in favour of the winning bidder.
- If the winning bidder fails to make payments in 90 days, the next highest intending bidder in chronological order will be allowed to buy the property.
On July 25, the apex court had asked Roy to deposit Rs 1,500 crore in the SEBI-Sahara account by September 7 if he wanted to halt the auction of the township near Lonavala.
The top court also rejected the request of the Sahara Group to allow it to submit post-dated cheques as part of the payment.
Except hyperbolic arguments and rhetoric statements, the amount has not been paid in entirety.Supreme Court Order
In this ongoing case, the Supreme Court had in April 2012 ordered two Sahara companies to refund Rs 24,000 crore, along with 15 percent interest, to more than 2 crore individuals who had invested in optionally fully convertible debentures between 2008 and 2011. Roy was arrested in 2014 after the companies failed to comply with the order.
Roy, who has spent nearly two years in jail, has been out on parole since May 6 last year. The parole was granted the first time to enable him to attend the funeral of his mother. It has since been extended multiple times.