Sahara seeks early hearing on stay plea

NEW DELHI: Sahara group has sought an urgent hearing in Supreme Court on an application for stay of an earlier court directive to pay Rs 10,000 crore by January 7. The group on Monday moved the court, but a bench headed by Justice KS Radhakrishnan refused to hear the plea mentioned on an urgent out-of-turn basis by senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani.

The group had earlier mentioned the same plea before and not got any relief, after which it had approached a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir that had directed two of its companies to deposit Rs 24,000 crore by tranches. On Monday, Sahara again sought a stay on payment as well as a stay of any coercive action for not depositing the amount.

The group has claimed that since it has already deposited Rs 5,120 crore with stock market regulator Sebi and paid the rest of its investors, it need not pay this amount.

The company has already paid Rs 2,620 crore whenever the investors demanded refunds and said that the rest Rs 2,500 is adequate for paying the rest. The two-member bench, which in August, 2012, asked the two companies to pay back about Rs 24,000 crore to investors though Sebi, will hear Sahara’s plea to review its judgement in-chamber on Tuesday.