Supreme Court orders SEBI and Sahara to file responses to application filed by Moneylife Foundation

Supreme Court orders SEBI and Sahara to file responses to application filed by Moneylife Foundation

The Supreme Court ordered the Securities Exchange Board of India (in short SEBI) and Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd., (hereinafter referred to as Sahara) to file responses to three intervention applications (71960, 71965 and 71987 of 2021) filed by Moneylife Foundation and other interim applications filed in the civil contempt petition case of SEBI vs. Sahara.

The three intervention applications were filed by Moneylife Foundation, a non-profit organisation. It had hosted a Telegram channel of over 800 members and had further collated and verified information from many of these investors based on the promise that Sahara would pay the investors. However, only Rs. 39 lakh were paid to 18 investors, leading to default in payment. Moneylife for years has highlighted the plight of investors in Sahara's credit cooperative societies and consequently, the aggrieved investors had approached Moneylife foundation for assistance in recovering their deposits.

The Intervention applications submitted, have investor data of 240 people collated and verified from the Telegram Channel. The total amount claimed by the investors in the list submitted to the Apex Court is amounting to Rs. 15 crore. These include individuals who are small-time investors, who were systematically persuaded to invest their funds in various schemes allowed under the Sahara Group. The intervention application submitted were also accompanied by affidavits from two investors whose details have been included to showcase the hardship and difficulties faced by the aggrieved depositors.

Before the Apex Court, Moneylife foundation has requested to order SEBI to refund the amounts owed to investors of cooperative securities belonging to the Sahara Group after conducting proper verification of their claims.

Senior Counsel Shyam Divan along with advocates Govind Manoharan and Anshula Laroiya are representing Moneylife on a pro bono basis.

The Court appointed Amicus Curiae, Mr. Shekhar Naphade, Senior Advocate, will appoint an Advocate-on-Record, who will act as a nodal advocate and logistic coordinator. The next hearing has been scheduled for the 18th, 19th and 20th of April 2023 to complete all pending interim applications as well as the main contempt case.