10 crore investors of 4 Sahara group's cooperative societies to get back money: Centre

New Delhi [India], March 30 : Money will be returned to 10 crore investors of 4 cooperative societies of Sahara group within 9 months following the Supreme Court order directing the transfer of Rs 5,000 crore from Sahara-SEBI refund account to the Central Registrar, the government said on Wednesday.

"The Supreme Court, while giving a historic decision, ordered to return the deposits of about 10 crore investors of 4 cooperative societies of Sahara group from the Sahara-SEBI refund account," the Ministry of Cooperation said in a statement, adding that Justice Reddy, the assistance of Gaurav Agarwal, will complete the payment process in 9 months.

Earlier in the day, Supreme Court allowed a plea by the Centre seeking allocation of Rs 5,000 crore, out of Rs 24,000 crore deposited by the Sahara group with market regulator Sebi, to repay depositors of the cooperative societies.

Sahara Group's four societies- Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Saharayan Universal Multipurpose Society Limited, Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited, were registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 between March 2010 and January 2014.

A large number of complaints were received from across the country regarding non-payment of deposits to the depositors of these cooperative societies.

Taking cognizance of the complaints, notices were issued to the societies and a hearing was held before the Central Registrar.

During the course of hearings, the Central Registrar directed the societies to pay the unpaid amount to the investors and stopped the societies from taking fresh deposits and renewing existing ones.

"The Ministry of Cooperation digitized about 1.22 lakh claims received from the depositors and sent them to these committees for payment, but the committees did not take necessary action in this regard. Every day a large number of applications are being received from the depositors of these societies for payment of their investments," the ministry further said.

As per the directions of the Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah has taken up the matter on priority and held several meetings with the Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Revenue, SEBI, SFIO and ED etc.

The ministry in a filed petition before the apex court had requested that Rs 5,000 crore from the Sahara-SEBI Refund Account can be used to pay depositors of the four co-operative societies of the Sahara Group.

With the assistance of Gaurav Agarwal, the advocate of the Central Registrar will complete the payment process in 9 months.

The payment to the investors will be made through a transparent process to the legitimate investors of Sahara Societies through their bank accounts on the basis of proper proof of their identity and deposit.

"The Ministry of Cooperation will soon start the process of payment to the legitimate investors of cooperative societies of Sahara Group through a proper transparent mechsm, which will provide relief to crores of investors and their families," the ministry said.

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