I.A. Nos. 8-9 and 10-12 of 2014 in Contempt Petition (C) No. 412 of 2012 in Civil Appeal No. 9813 of 2011, I.A. Nos. 8-9 and 10-12 of 2014 in Contempt Petition (C) No. 413 of 2012 in Civil Appeal No. 9833 of 2011 and I.A. Nos. 10-12 of 2014 in Contempt Petition (C) No. 260 of 2013 in Civil Appeal No. 8643 of 2012. Case: Securities and Exch. Board of India Vs Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd.. Supreme Court (India)
| Case Number | I.A. Nos. 8-9 and 10-12 of 2014 in Contempt Petition (C) No. 412 of 2012 in Civil Appeal No. 9813 of 2011, I.A. Nos. 8-9 and 10-12 of 2014 in Contempt Petition (C) No. 413 of 2012 in Civil Appeal No. 9833 of 2011 and I.A. Nos. 10-12 of 2014 in Contempt Petition (C) No. 260 of 2013 in Civil Appeal No. 8643 of 2012 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Arvind P. Datar, Sr. Adv., Tushar Mehta, ASG, Pratap Venugopal, Meenakshi Chauhan, Gaurav Nair, P.K. Jha, Anuj Sarma, Advs. for M/s. K.J. John and Co., Vishwa Pal Singh, Anil Katiyar and Arijit Prasad, Advs. and For Respondents: Rajiv Dhavan, S. Ganesh, Sr. Advs., Gaurav Kejriwal and Keshav Mohan, Advs. |
| Judges | T.S. Thakur, Anil R. Dave and Arjan Kumar Sikri, JJ. |
| Issue | Contempt of Court |
| Judgement Date | July 22, 2014 |
| Court | Supreme Court (India) |
Judgment:
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I.As. No. 8-9 of 2014 in Contempt Petitions (C) No. 412 and 413 of 2012 are dismissed.
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I.As. No. 10-12 of 2014 in Contempt Petitions (C) No. 412 of 2012, 413 of 2012 and 260 of 2013 are allowed to the extent that three offshore hotel properties owned by Saharas are allowed to be transferred, sold or encumbered subject to the condition that the entire sale consideration received by the Saharas after repayment of the loan outstanding towards the Bank of China is deposited with SEBI towards compliance with the directions contained in the conditional bail order dated 26.3.2014 passed by this Court. The excess amount, if any, shall be deposited by the Saharas in a separate account to await orders from this Court regarding their utilisation. The sale of the offshore properties shall not be at a price lesser than the value estimated by CBRE and JLL for the said properties reduced at the most by 5% of such value.
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We clarify that sale of remainder of the properties which Saharas have been allowed to transfer, sell or encumber in terms of our order dated 4th June, 2014 shall not be at a price less than the estimated value of the said properties reduced at the most by 5% of such estimate.
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we request Shri Shekhar Naphade, Senior Advocate, to assist the Court in the case as an Amicus Curiae. The terms and conditions of Shri Naphade's appointment shall, however, remain the same as were stipulated for Shri Nariman.
T.S. Thakur, J.
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By our order dated 4th June, 2014 we had, while declining the prayer made by the contemnors for modification of the terms on which they were granted interim bail, partially modified order dated 21st November, 2013 passed by this Court and that passed by SEBI on 13th February, 2013 so as to enable Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited (SHICL) (hereinafter referred to as 'Saharas' for short) to deposit with SEBI the maturity value/sale consideration of FDs, bonds and securities held by the Saharas. We had also, by the same order, permitted Saharas to sell nine different properties situate in nine different cities in the country and to deposit the sale proceeds thereof with SEBI, to the extent the same was necessary to make a total deposit of Rs. 5,000/- crores required in terms of the bail order. We had also permitted Saharas to charge its immovable property situate in Aamby Valley (Pune) for obtaining and furnishing to this Court a bank guarantee for an amount of Rs. 5,000/- crores in terms of the bail order dated 4th June, 2014. As regards Sahara's prayer for permission to sell three hotel properties situate outside the country, we had left the question open to be determined after Saharas furnished the requisite documents/information in terms of our order dated 29th May, 2014 evidencing the approval of Bank of China to the proposed transfer of the stakes held by the Saharas in the said three properties. We were informed that Bank of China had a charge over the three properties and that it had agreed in principle to the sale of the stakes held by Saharas subject to the repayment of the outstanding loan amount for which the said properties were charged. We had also noticed the valuation reports in regard to the three properties mentioned above and a contention urged by Saharas that the same had been prepared by reputed valuers at the instance of the Bank of China in connection with the loan transactions as a part of the ongoing exercise undertaken by the bankers. We had asked Saharas to obtain a confirmation from the Bank of China to the effect that the valuation reports prepared in respect of the three offshore hotel properties by CBRE and JLL have been prepared at the instance of the Bank of China and that the same had been accepted by the bank to be correct. We were of the view that such a confirmation would lend re-assurance to the Court that the valuation reports represented the true value of the stakes held by the Saharas in the said three properties. This is evident from the following portion of the order passed by us on 29th May, 2014:
Dr. Dhawan submitted, on instructions, that an appropriate communication could subject to the order of this Court be addressed to the Bank of China by the Saharas seeking its approval to the proposed transfer of the stakes held by Saharas in the three properties mentioned above, subject to the repayment of the loan outstanding against those properties. Dr. Dhawan submitted that a copy of the communication addressed to the Bank of China and its response shall be placed on record before this Court along with an affidavit within one week from today. He further submitted that apart from the correspondence that may be exchanged on the subject between Saharas and the Bank of China, the Bank of China will also be requested to confirm the amount that...
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