Firms bid for Sahara land in apex court

The Supreme Court on Monday virtually turned into an auction house when two real estate firms kept raising their bids for the Sahara Group’s 45.71 acre land in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The parties finally agreed to shell out Rs 150 crore.

A three-judge bench presided over by Justice T S Thakur oversaw the competitive bidding in the courtroom when counsels representing the two firms went on to increase the sum from Rs 110 crore to Rs 150 crore.

The bench, amused by the companies’ reactions, wondered at one point whether the price could go up to Rs 190 crore, which is said to be the market value of the land, part of the 140 acre sought to be developed by Sahara Group.

During the hearing, on the issue related to arranging money for securing bail for Sahara group chief Subrata Roy, Samriddhi Developers agreed to match the Rs 110 crore offer made by Gorakhpur Real Estate Developers Private Limited.

Roy has been in jail since March 4, 2014.
Advocate Kamini Jaiswal, representing Gorakhpur Real Estate Developers, raised the bid to Rs 115 crore and the judges sought the rival’s response.

Senior advocate Paras Kuhat, appearing for Samriddhi, took instructions from one of the partners, and hiked the bid to Rs 125 crore.  Jaiswal then took it up to Rs 140 crore, added Rs 5 crore more and then finally settled at Rs 150 crore.

This was matched by the other firm, which was ready to fork out Rs 150 crore.
The bench then said that both parties have to show their bonafides by depositing 25 per cent of the amount by July 31 in the Sebi-Sahara account and rest of the money has to be paid in three equal instalments by October 31.

The Gorakhpur Real Estate developer had filed an application objecting to the sale of property at Rs 64 crore to Samriddhi Developers and had offered Rs 110 crore.

The bench, also comprising Justices A R Dave and A K Sikri, said failure to meet the deadline would result in forfeiture of the 25 per cent amount deposited by them.
The money generated from the sale of the Gorakhpur property would be added to the amount already deposited by the Sahara Group in the Sebi-Sahara account and will go towards securing Roy’s release.

The bench posted the matter for hearing on August 3 and said it will decide the future course of action. Gorakhpur Real Estate Developers Private Limited complied with the July 7 order and deposited Rs 11 crore with the Supreme Court Registry to establish its bonafides.

Samriddhi also placed a letter and a cheque from its bankers to show its bonafides.