SC clears fresh Rs 5,000 crore payout to Sahara depositors, extends deadline to 2026

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed fresh disbursal of Rs 5,000 crores from the funds deposited by the Sahara Group with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to repay dues of depositors in the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies.

In 2023, the apex court had accepted a similar request by the government’s for release of Rs 5000 crore lying in the “Sahara-Sebi refund account” to clear dues of those who had invested in four Sahara Group credit cooperative societies and were cheated of their investment.

Out of the total amount of Rs 24,979.67 crore deposited by the Sahara group in connection with raising funds through bonds, the apex court in March 2023 had asked the money to be transferred to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, who shall disburse the same against the legitimate dues of the genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies in a transparent manner.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi on Friday extended the time till December 31, 2026 for the government to distribute the amount released earlier in 2023 and also on Friday to the investors.

The transfer is to be completed within a week, under the supervision of former Supreme Court judge Justice R Subhash Reddy and in accordance with the modalities outlined in the March 2023 order.

The order was passed after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought extension of time for release of payments to investors till December 31, 2026, covering amounts released under both the March 2023 order and the Friday’s direction. The court had earlier set the deadline as December 31, 2025.While the counsel for SEBI sought time until Monday to obtain instructions, the bench said that it was not a consent order.The direction came in response to an application filed by the Union government in a pending public interest litigation by one Pinak Pani Mohanty, who had in 2023 sought direction to pay the amount to the depositors who invested in several chit fund companies and Sahara credit firms. The petitioner had then also sought a CBI probe into the Sahara firms and demanded that the amount seized by the probe agency be used to pay back investors.

The government in its application stated that the earlier disbursed amount could not be released to depositors within the prescribed timeline, leading to accrual of interest. So far, claims totaling Rs 1,13,504.124 crores have been filed by about Rs 5.43 crore investors. Refunds amounting to Rs 5,053.01 crores have been issued to 26,25,090 genuine depositors.