The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday stayed proceedings on petitions
filed by Sahara Group before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) and the Allahabad High Court (HC) against action and orders of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) till it decides the market regulator's plea to initiate contempt proceedings against the company for allegedly violating the court's order on deposit of money collected from investors.
Sahara Group and Sebi are
locked in legal dispute over the refunding of Rs 24,000 crore to over three crore investors.
A Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar stayed the proceedings while considering Sebi's application for initiation of contempt proceedings against the company for violating its order.
While Sebi contended that Sahara had committed contempt by not complying with the court's order, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani submitted on behalf of the Group that he had preliminary objections on the maintainability of the petition.
Jethmalani said that contempt is made out only when there is wilful
disobedience of an order. Apart from wilful disobedience, the impact of the disobedience should be such that it subverts the course of justice, he added.
The Sahara counsel further pointed out that the SC had held that contempt could not be resorted to for enforcement of orders or decrees of court.
Sebi said that Sahara had claimed that the amount collected from investors had been invested in Sahara companies and could be brought back anytime. It had also given a list of assets owned by it. But after it decided to attach assets, the company issued an advertisement stating that it had sold assets to repay investors.
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