In a historic decision, on the petition of the Ministry of Cooperation, the Supreme Court has ordered the refund from Sahara-SEBI refund account to about 10 crore investors of 4 cooperative societies of Sahara Group, ending the long pending woes of Sahara investors.
What other ministers would have taken ages to achieve, was achieved in no time due to Union Cooperation minister Amit Shah’s clout who personally oversaw the entire process. Shah held several meetings with the Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Revenue, SEBI, SFIO and ED etc to find a solution, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
On the petition filed by the Ministry of Cooperation, the Supreme Court ordered that out of the balance amount in the Sahara-SEBI Refund Account, Rs. 5,000 crores to be transferred to the Central Registrar for refund to the investors of Cooperative Societies of Sahara Group.
Under the supervision of the Supreme Court-appointed Retired judge Shri R. Subhash Reddy and with the assistance of Mr. Gaurav Agarwal, Advocate, the Central Registrar will complete the payment process in 9 months. The payment to the investors will be made through a transparent process to the legitimate investors of Sahara Societies through their bank accounts on the basis of proper proof of their identity and deposit.
The Ministry of Cooperation, under the supervision of Hon’ble Supreme Court appointed Retired Judge Shri R.K Subhash Reddy, will soon start the process of payment to the legitimate investors of cooperative societies of Sahara Group through a proper transparent mechanism, which will provide relief to crores of investors and their families.
It bears recall that a large number of complaints were received from across the country regarding non-payment of deposits to the depositors of four of Sahara Co-ops namely Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Society Limited, Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited.
Taking cognizance of the complaints, notices were issued to the societies and hearing was held before the Central Registrar. During the course of hearings, the Central Registrar directed the societies to pay the unpaid amount to the investors and stopped the societies from taking fresh deposits and renewing the existing ones.
The Ministry of Cooperation digitized about 1.22 lakh claims received from the depositors and sent them to these committees for payment, but the committees did not take necessary action in this regard. Everyday a large number of applications are being received from the depositors of these societies for payment of their investments.
As per a govt release “Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, Ministry of Cooperation took up the matter on priority and held several meetings with the Department of Economic Affairs, the Department of Revenue, SEBI, SFIO and ED etc.”
These efforts of the Ministry of Cooperation show that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is committed to safeguarding the interests of the poor and downtrodden, reads the release.
