The Supreme Court on Wednesday noted that the embattled Sahara Group was still short of Rs 9,000 crore of the principal amount of Rs 24,000 crore to be deposited in the SEBI-Sahara account to refund its investors.
The fact became clear after the apex court took on record that as per the committment given on June 19, the company and its chief Subrata Roy, who is out of jail to arrange the amount, have transferred Rs 1500.40 crore in the SEBI-Sahara account.
The apex court had given them the time till Wednesday to deposit Rs 1500 crore, as during the previous hearing, they had deposited Rs 790.18 crore and were to pay the balance of Rs 709.82 crore.
At the outset, a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra was told that a sum of Rs 710.22 crore has been transferred to the SEBI-Sahara account.
Taking note of this, the bench said, "Thus, the total amount that has been received by the SEBI-Sahara account is Rs 1500.40 crores. Thus, the commitment given on June 19 as regards the first cheque stands satisfied".
It also took on record that a cheque amounting to Rs 552.21 crores, which is to be honoured on July 15, was also given to SEBI.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Saharas, sought time till August 15 for realisation of the cheque and giving a road map for depositing the remaining amount. However, this was rejected by the bench which also comprised Justices Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri.
"At this juncture, we are obliged to sit in a time machine and recall what this court had stated on April 27, 2017. On that day, it was noted that a cheque amounting to Rs 552.21 crore had been deposited and it was to be honoured by July 15.