Can Sahara save Aamby Valley?

An eagle eye view of the Aamby Valley City

While renowned advocate Kapil Sibal pleaded for a stay order on the auction of Aamby Valley on behalf of the Sahara Group at the Supreme Court, the senior lawyer also sought permission for delaying the sale notice and requested more time to review Sahara’s payment plan.

After the apex court on July 25 ordered the Sahara chief Subrata Roy to pay INR 1.5 billion out of the INR 240 billion that the company raised from the investors, the idea of floating an auction for the highly priced Aamby Valley is rumoured. The Bombay High Court’s official liquidator that calls for bids is speculated to get a stay order for the time being. The Sahara Group has been asked to pay the sum of INR 1.5 billion along with a suitable repayment scheme over a period of one and a half year.

Sahara Group is expected to pay INR 370 billion to the market regulator, so far paid INR 130 billion of the principal amount to SEBI. It has to pay up another INR 90 billion before the court examines its plea to verify the truth of its millions of investors.

While Sahara claims that all the investors are genuine, SEBI claims they are fake and made up. Advocate Sibal promised in his argument that the company would present a strategic plan for further repayments during the last hearing, however, this time it turned out to be more of a plea than a presentation of repayment plans.

The Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra, Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri warned the Sahara Group last time stating, “Otherwise, Aamby Valley would be auctioned off” and also implied that Roy may be sent back to jail.

Earlier Roy failed to pay the balance of INR 3.05 billion from his previous installment that was due on June 15. While the liquidator speculates the market value of Aamby Valley at INR 374 billion (approximately), the fair value would be INR 430 billion.

Subrata Roy was arrested in 2014 after Sahara Group’s Real Estate wing, Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited raised INR 240 billion from people alluring them into optionally fully convertible debentures or an unsecured loan certificate in 2007 and 2008. However, Roy is out of the custody in a parole but still reeling to meet the Supreme Court order given on August 31 that directed a refund of the entire amount with a 15 pc interest.

The chic property of Aamby Valley City was developed by Sahara as a lifestyle township in Pune in the western state of Maharashtra. It is around 25 kilometers from Lonavala and around 125 kilometers from Mumbai.