Adani Group will buy 88 properties of Sahara
The ongoing tug of war regarding the properties of Sahara India family has now reached a new turn. The matter is worth thousands of crores of rupees and in this two big corporate names of the country Sahara and Adani are face to face. Sahara Group wants to sell its valuable assets to Adani Group to overcome its financial crisis, but the Central Government has asked for more time to file its reply on this matter in the Supreme Court.
Hearing postponed for six weeks
The matter will be heard on Monday before Chief Justice B.R. Came before the bench headed by Gavai. Sahara India Commercial Corporation Limited (SICCL) has appealed to the court to allow it to sell 88 of its properties to Adani Properties. The value of this deal is around ₹ 12,000 crore.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared on behalf of the Central Government. He told the court that the government needs some more time to present its stand in this matter. Mehta also demanded that the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Cooperation should also be made parties in this case.
The government’s argument is that the money of many cooperative societies of Sahara Group is stuck in this and it has a direct connection with the common investors. Accepting the government’s argument, the court has postponed the hearing for six weeks.
From Aamby Valley to Sahara City
This deal is not just about pieces of land, but it includes some of the most prestigious properties of the country. The 88 properties that Sahara Group wants to sell include Maharashtra’s famous ‘Aamby Valley City’, Mumbai’s ‘ Hotel Sahara Star’, and Lucknow’s ‘Sahara City’ and ‘Sahara Ganj’.
Interestingly, Adani Properties is ready to buy all these properties together. In the last hearing (October 14), senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Adani, had told the court that they are ready to buy all the 88 properties on ‘as is where is’ (as is where is) basis. adanigroup Says that they will also take over the disputed properties so that a long legal battle can be avoided and the deal can be completed quickly.
Sahara Group has made it clear that the entire money received from this sale will be deposited in the ‘SEBI-Sahara Refund Account’ as per the instructions of the Supreme Court, so that the investors’ money can be returned.
Stuck breathing of employees and investors
Amidst all this legal complexity, Sahara’s employees and small investors are suffering the most. During the hearing, the issue of outstanding salaries of Sahara employees also came up, but the court has postponed this too for the time being.
Court’s advisor (Amicus Curiae) senior lawyer Shekhar Nafde made a shocking statement. He said that he is still receiving claims of such properties which have not been disclosed by Sahara. He suggested that the company should post the list of all its assets on its website.
Sahara argues that it has become difficult to manage the assets after the death of its founder Subrata Roy in 2023. Despite SEBI’s efforts, it is not able to sell the properties, hence Sahara wants to clear its liabilities by selling them itself.
The dispute is a decade old
This entire matter has been going on since 2010 and is one of the longest disputes in the corporate world. In 2012, the Supreme Court had ordered Sahara to return ₹24,000 crore (with 15% interest) that it had wrongly raised from investors.
Sahara claims that it has deposited around ₹16,000 crore so far, while SEBI says that more than ₹9,000 crore is still outstanding. Subrata Roy also had to go to jail in this case. Now it remains to be seen whether this deal will be able to move forward with the government’s response after six weeks or whether the wait for investors will be longer.