SC FIXES AAMBY VALLEY RESERVE PRICE AT ~37,392 CR
Draft terms for sale to be given by June 19; Sahara offers 2 post-dated cheques worth ~2,052 crore
The Supreme Court on Thursday fixed the reserve price for the proposed auction of the Sahara group’s luxury township Aamby Valley, at ~37,392 crore and directed the official liquidator to prepare the draft terms and conditions for the sale.
The terms, to be prepared in consultation with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), are to be presented to the court at the next hearing on June 19.
Though Sahara claimed the circle rate of properties in Aamby Valley was ~49,000 crore and the enterprise valuation was ~1 lakh crore, a bench of judges Di pa kM is ra, AK Si kr ian dR an jan Gogoi went by the submissions of the official liquidator to the Bombay High Court.
The valuations, based on different methodologies prepared by valuer Tech-mech International, were submitted in a sealed cover to the court. After considering the submissions of the liquidator and consulting with Sebi counsel Arvind Datar and amicus curiae Shekhar Naphade, the bench zeroed in on there serve price, which is said to be based on fair market value of the properties.
Meanwhile, the bench accepted two post-dated cheques offered by Sahara for ~2,052 crore while warning group chief Subrata Roy, who was personally present, that he would be sent to Tihar jail if these were not honoured. The first cheque of ~1,500 crore would be payable on June 15 and the second one for the remaining sum a month later.
Earlier, pleading the group should not be strangulated by selling off its only revenue source, Sahara counsel Kapil Sibal promised that once the second cheque is encashed in July, the group would submit another cheque of ~3,000 crore. This third cheque could be encashed by October, Sibal said. He also said 40 per cent of Aamby Valley was owned by a cooperative society, whose lakhs of members might be affected.
When the bench asked Sebi about the principal amount due to Sahara, Datar said the total principal amount pending was ~25,781 crore. Of this, he said, the sum paid so far along with interest was ~14,612 crore and the sum due came to ~11,169 crore. The court said it would come to the question of interest later.
It decided to allow both the processes — auction of Aamby Valley and cheque repayment — to run in parallel.
Following directions given in the last hearing, Roy, dressed in a cream coloured bandgala and black pants, was present in the court number-2, along with younger son Seemanto and several group executives. When judge Misra asked him if he was willing to pay, Roy said, “I am trying my best from the beginning.”
Misra said, “We are warning you. If the cheques are not realised, we will be compelled to send you to Tihar Jail from here.” The court extended his parole till the next hearing.
Roy was summoned and sent to jail in 2014 by the bench of judges K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar, the present chief justice, for non-compliance with the court’s directives in the matter of money raised by two group firms, Sahara India Real Estate Corp and Sahara Housing Invest Corp.
He came out on parole in May last year to attend the funeral of his mother. Since then, the court has given several conditional extensions, tying it to the repayment of a few hundred crore each time.
The court sent Prakash Swamy, a former journalist who acted as the power of attorney for MG Capital, to jail for one month for contempt of court. The US-based fund, which had shown interest in buying Sahara group’s interests in Plaza Hotel for $550 million, had backed out when the court asked it to deposit ~750 crore to establish its bona fide, citing a cross-collateral obligation, which required it to buy interests in another property, too.
Following this, in its last hearing, the court directed the presence of Swamy and imposed costs of ~10 crore on him. Though the fund sent its US attorney, it did not immediately pay up the costs imposed on its representative.
Swamy, present in the court, expressed his inability to pay the costs and pleaded for forgiveness. He said had covered the UN in the past and he did it for personal friendship, and did not fully know the implications. “If you are a journalist, why did you get into a business like this… it is greed… temptation. Temptation sometimes leads to confinement,” Misra said, adding, “If we forgive you, we will be sending a wrong message.”
The valuations based on different methodologies prepared by valuer Techmech International were given in a sealed cover to the court