Sahara saves Aamby Valley as no takers at auction

Sahara Group has managed to save its flagship property Aamby Valley near Lonavala in Pune district of Maharashtra after no buyer turned up to buy it during an auction ordered by the Supreme Court.

Sebi counsel on Thursday told a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra that the Aamby Valley auction has failed as no one responded to the tender notice inviting bids despite several advertisements.

"We will lift the order attaching the property after the company pays Rs 982.80 crore by September 12, 2018," said the Bench which also included Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice AK Sikri.

Senior counsel Vikas Singh, representing Sahara, told the top court that the company has already paid Rs 19,000 crore out of the Rs 24,000 ordered by the court and it was ready to deposit almost Rs 1,000 crore in the next three months by disposing of its land in Maharashtra.

Singh informed the Bench that two companies — Sai Rydam Realtors and Prime Downtown Real Estate — have agreed to buy 3 acre land owned by Sahara in Vasai and Mumbai.

The Bench court asked the two companies to deposit a total of Rs 982 crore to buy Sahara's land.

The buyers — who gave a bank draft for Rs 100 crore on Thursday to the Sebi counsel during the proceedings — were ordered to present two further bank drafts for Rs 200 crore each on July 24 and August 16.

The remaining Rs 682.80 crore has to be deposited by September 12, 2018, the Bench ordered posting the matter for further hearing on September 14.

On a request made by Singh, it also allowed the company to manage the property for revenue generation to run Aamby Valley.