Supreme Court of India
PINAK PANI MOHANTY versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. on 29 March 2023
778
[2023] 3 S.C.R. 778
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2023] 3 S.C.R.
APINAK PANI MOHANTY
v.
UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.
(I.A. No. 56308 of 2023)
In
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(Writ Petition (C) No. 191 of 2022)
MARCH 29, 2023
[M. R. SHAH AND C. T. RAVIKUMAR, JJ.]
CDirections – Union of India, sought directions to transfer anamount of Rs. 5,000 crores out of unutilized amount of Rs. 23,937crores (lying in “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account) to be disbursedagainst the legitimate dues of depositors of Sahara Group ofCooperatives Societies – Held: The amount lying in the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account” is unutilized and the genuine depositors ofDthe Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies are entitled to get backtheir money, the prayer in application is reasonable and in the largerpublic interest/interest of the genuine depositors of the Sahara Groupof Cooperative Societies – Rs. 5,000 crores directed to be transferredto the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, who in turn, shallEdisburse the same against the legitimate dues of depositors of SaharaGroup of Cooperative Societies – I.A. disposed of.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: I.A. No. 56308 of 2023in Writ Petition (C) No. 191 of 2022
Under Article 32 of The Constitution of IndiaFand in the Matter of Ms. Shailja Kulshrestha, Suresh Chandra Tripathy, JitendraMohapatra, Ms. Priyam Aggarwal, Dr. Kedar Nath Tripathy, Advs. forthe Petitioner.G
Tushar Mehta, SG, Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, Balbir Singh, A.S.Gs.,Rajat Nair, Madhav Sinhal, Ms. Chitrangda Rastravara, Arvind KumarSharma, Mukesh Kumar Maroria, Pratyush Srivastava, PrasenjeetMohapatra, Ms. Nitya Thakur, Tonmoy Dera, Rajeet Roy, Tarini PrasadTripathy, Dhananjay Bhaskar Ray, Advs. for the Respondents.H
The Order of the Court was passed by
M. R. SHAH, J.
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1. Present application being I.A. No. 56308 of 2023 has beenpreferred by the Union of India, Ministry of Corporation for appropriatedirections to transfer an amount of Rs. 5,000 Crores out of unutilizedamount of Rs. 23,937 Crores (lying in “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account”)to be disbursed against the legitimate dues of depositors of Sahara GroupCooperatives Societies.
2. Shri Tushar Mehta, learned Solicitor General has submitted thata total amount of Rs. 24,979.67 Crores is lying unutilized with the SEBIin “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account”, which has been deposited pursuantto the earlier direction issued by this Court. He has submitted that out ofthe aforesaid amount of Rs. 15,569.27 Crores deposited by Sahara IndiaReal Estate Corporation Limited and Sahara Housing InvestmentCorporation Limited, Rs. 2253 Crores had been taken out from SaharaCredit Cooperative Society Ltd. and deposited with SEBI on account ofthe dispute of Sahara Real Estate Limited. It is submitted that, thus, thecorpus which is lying in “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account” already includesthe amount which belongs to the depositors of the aforesaid SaharaGroup Cooperative Society Ltd.
2.1 He has stated at the Bar that the amount deposited in “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account” is lying unutilized and in fact due to large numberof continuing complaints against the Sahara Group of CooperativeSocieties and the amount lying unutilized is also consisting of the amountof the depositors of Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies, if Rs. 5,000Crores is transferred to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societiesand thereafter the same is disbursed against the legitimate dues of thedepositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies, it will be just,proper and equitable.
2.2 He has stated at the Bar that on the aforesaid amount, there isno charge and/or attachment of any other agency. He has stated at theBar that the present application has been filed for appropriate directionas prayed, after the series of meetings with the different authorities /departments, which shall be in the larger interest of the depositors of theSahara Group of Cooperative Societies. He has also prayed that a suitabledirection be also issued that the amount due and payable to the respectivedepositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies may be disbursed BC
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Ain the most transparent manner and the same shall be paid to the genuinedepositors on proper identification and on submitting their proof of deposits.He has also requested that for that a suitable direction be also issuedthat the amount shall be disbursed to the respective depositors under thesupervision of the Former Judge of this Court.
B3. Having heard Shri Tushar Mehta, learned Solicitor Generalappearing on behalf of the Union of India and taking into considerationthe facts narrated hereinabove and when it is reported that Rs. 2253Crores had been taken out of the Sahara Credit Cooperative SocietyLtd., i.e., one of the four Sahara Group Multi-State Cooperative Societiesand deposited with SEBI in the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account” andCthe amount lying in the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account” is lying unutilizedand the genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies,which otherwise, shall be entitled to get back their money, the prayersought in the present application seems to be reasonable and which shallbe in the larger public interest / interest of the genuine depositors of theDSahara Group of Cooperative Societies. Therefore, the present applicationstands disposed of with the following directions:-
(i) Out of the total amount of Rs. 24,979.67 Crores lying in the“Sahara-SEBI Refund Account”, Rs. 5000 Crores betransferred to the Central Registrar of CooperativeESocieties, who, in turn, shall disburse the same against thelegitimate dues of the depositors of the Sahara Group ofCooperative Societies, which shall be paid to the genuinedepositors in the most transparent manner and on properidentification and on submitting proof of their deposits andproof of their claims and to be deposited in their respectiveFbank accounts directly.
(ii) The disbursement shall be supervised and monitored byJustice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of this Court withthe able assistance of Shri Gaurav Agarwal, learnedAdvocate, who is appointed as Amicus Curiae to assistGJustice R. Subhash Reddy as well as the Central Registrarof Cooperative Societies in disbursing the amount to thegenuine depositors of the Sahara Group of CooperativeSocieties. The manner and modalities for making the paymentis to be worked out by the Central Registrar of CooperativeHSocieties in consultation with Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of this Court and Shri Gaurav Agarwal,Alearned Advocate.
(iii) Rs. 15 lakhs per month be paid to Justice R. Subhash Reddy,Former Judge of this Court and Rs. 5 lakhs per month bepaid to Shri Gaurav Agarwal, learned Amicus Curiae towardstheir honorarium.B
(iv) We direct that the amount be paid to the respective genuinedepositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societiesout of the aforesaid amount of Rs. 5,000 Crores at theearliest, but not later than nine months from today. Thebalance amount thereafter be again transferred to theC“Sahara-SEBI Refund Account”.
4. The present I.A. stands disposed of in terms of the above.
Ankit Gyan
(Assisted by : Aarsh Choudhary, LCRA)
I.A. disposed of.
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