Delhi High Court restrains Sahara Group societies from accepting new deposits, directs Central Registrar to examine complaints against Sahara

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Central Registrar of Multi State Co-operative Societies to examine the genuineness of all the complaints and applications filed by investors against the Sahara group societies. .A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla directed the Registrar to furnish a report within two weeks after examination of applications of investors claiming that they have not received their money even after maturity.In the meantime, the High Court restrained Sahara Group societies from accepting any new deposits. .The Court was dealing with a batch of petitions filed by Sahara Credit Cooperative Society and two other Sahara group societies challenging the order of the Central Registrar restraining them from taking fresh deposits as well as renewing the investment or deposit of existing members.Though the Central Registrar's order was stayed by the Delhi High Court in January last year, hundreds of applications were filed in petitions by the people claiming to be investors in the societies. The applications alleged that even though their investments have matured, the societies are yet to pay them matured amount. .Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma told the Court that around seven to ten crore people have invested in these societies and now thousands of them have approached different fora with complaints that their money is not being paid. Sharma submitted that more than ₹60,000 crores were taken out from these societies and invested in the Amby Valley Project near Lonavala. It was submitted that an amount of over ₹2,000 crores was also taken out of these societies and deposited with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to secure bail of the group's promoter Subrata Roy. .Senior Advocate SB Upadhyay, appearing for the Sahara Group, questioned the genuineness of the applications and complaints arguing that in terms of the government's orders, an internal mechanism has been created to deal with them. Upadhyay said that the complaints amount to less than 0.006 per cent of the total number of investors, and that the societies have paid over ₹20,000 crores to its depositors since January 2021.He referred to a special audit of the societies to point that the report was in their favour, and requested the Court to not impose any stay on accepting further deposits because it is one of the ways in which it can pay its investors. .The High Court, however, said that the petitioners need to show their bonafides. Though the Bench was earlier inclined to order an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the affairs of the society or to appoint a retired judicial member to examine the complaints, it later asked the Central Registrar to complete the task, considering the infrastructure required.