The Supreme Court on Wednesday
allowed the Sahara Group to pay back Rs 24,000 crore with 15 per cent interest to investors of its two real estate firms by February 2013.
The
apex court's ruling comes a day after Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation sought more time to furnish details of refunding the money it had mopped up through optionally fully-convertible debentures (OFCD).
The Supreme Court had then
deferred the day's hearing to Wednesday .
An apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, directed the Sahara Group to immediately hand over a demand draft of Rs 5,120 crore to the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and said the balance amount shall be deposited with the market regulator in two instalments.
The Supreme Court bench, which said it was considering Sahara's application to protect the interest of the investors, also
expressed displeasure with Sahara's statement for extension of time for payment, saying it could not be accepted at face value.
The bench, also comprising justices S S Nijjar and J Chelameswar, made it clear that the first instalment of Rs 10,000 crore has to be paid by first week of January and the remaining by first week of February.
The order passed by the bench was objected to by Sebi and an association of the investors, who said the directions were being given without hearing their submissions.
With inputs from PTI 
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