“Court me Jaiye…” FM Sitharaman's reply on Refund of money deposited in Sahara Group and PACL Ltd
In a recent statement, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the long-standing issue of refund claims from Sahara Group and PACL Ltd. Her response was clear: affected individuals will need to pursue their claims through the courts. Discover the details of her reply and what it means for those awaiting refunds. Will this signal the end of their long struggle? Watch now to get the full story and understand the implications for thousands of investors.
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#Sitharaman #SaharaGroup #PACL #Refunds #FinanceMinister #India #Court #Investors #FinanceNews #LegalUpdates #SaharaRefund #PACLRefund
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00:00M.O.S. Pankaj Choudhury tried to give the details. I just want to put the entire Sahara
00:09matter before this honourable house in all its dimensions. If you will indulge me a bit
00:16more time, I will be able to, I am not taking too much time, but I would like to put it
00:19into three different categories. That which comes under the SEBI's regulations, now first
00:27of all, everything to do with Sahara is being monitored by the Supreme Court. There are
00:33some which come under the regulator SEBI, there are some which are being dealt with
00:39by the Ministry of Cooperation. So I want to be clear when I convey this thought that
00:46everything is being monitored by the Supreme Court. M.O.S. was right in saying those which
00:51come under the SEBI are actually three entities of the Sahara. Sahara India Real Estate Corporation
00:58Limited, Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited and Sahara India Commercial. Now
01:06the Supreme Court order of 2012 does say the estimated amount is 25,781.37 crores, but
01:17estimated number of the investors or depositors also estimated again at 3.07 crores. M.O.S.
01:26rightly said that in spite of the attempts made by the SEBI advertising in 2013, advertising
01:35in 2014 and again in 2018 saying on 2nd July that this is the last time please whoever
01:42wants to claim, come over. Three publicly announced attempts to get people to come and
01:48claim the amount so that the dispersal can happen and this entire effort is being monitored
01:54by retired Justice B.N. Agarwal, retired Justice from the Supreme Court. So in this matter
02:01sir, the monies which are being given are being given after scrutiny of the applications.
02:07Number of claims sir, 19,650 claims came of which the Justice B.N. Agarwal committee
02:15looking at its eligibility and everything, 17,256 claims only could be entertained and
02:22that resulted in only 138.07 as the amount which is being claimed which is given. Yes
02:29we are talking of a 25,000 crore estimated amount, but claimants are only this many.
02:36So repeated attempts by the Supreme Court to go for advertisements are not yielding
02:41results in this particular SEBI related three company case. Sir, in general the honourable
02:49member asked are there no properties of the SEBI which cannot be auctioned out and money
02:54paid. Yes, of Sahara which SEBI can auction and reclaim the money. First of all sir, yes
03:05there are 18. Sir, first of all the 25,781 crore is not fully distributed, that is one
03:19thing. Second, Sahara India commercial sir, 18 properties have been attached. The matter
03:26is being, I am dealing with all the SEBI related matters and I am saying yes 18 properties
03:31are there and now even if auctioned the money will only go to that pool which is yet waiting
03:37to get distributed. So that is one aspect we have to keep in mind. The second sir, is
03:43the one which after the co-operative ministry has been formed, ministry of co-operation
03:49has been formed, then the government approached and honourable Supreme Court gave an order
03:55that some amount from the SEBI, that amount which is sitting in SEBI, some of them can
04:00be given to ministry of co-operation which can then get distributed for the co-operatives
04:05related. There are four co-operatives of the SEBI, of the Sahara. Sahara Credit Co-operative
04:11Society which is registered in Lucknow, Hamara India Credit Co-operative Society Limited
04:16which is registered in Kolkata, Sahara Universal Multi-Purpose Society registered in Bhopal,
04:24so and then Sahara Stars Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society registered in Hyderabad. For all of
04:30them put together, the total estimated amount is 86,673. Alright, for all the four sir,
04:42Justice R Subash Reddy, retired judge is looking at it, along with Amicus Curie, Gaurav Agarwal
04:51along with the Central Registrar of Co-operative Society who is sitting as a Joint Secretary
04:57in the Ministry of Co-operation, all three of them together form a committee and they
05:01are the ones who are looking around for, you know, the claims which are coming, eligibility
05:07of the claims and then giving them the money. Number of claims 1.21 crores. How much is
05:14the amount claimed? Amount which is estimated as claimed is 86,000 but how much could be
05:19released because the claims have to be legitimate? 374 crores released to 4.36 lakh depositors
05:26with 1.27 lakh depositors whose claims are only up to 10,000 rupees. Only 10,000 rupees
05:36or below, people have already been given whatever their claim is, 10,000, 8,000, 9,000 whatever
05:42the individual claim is. So that way, there is this committee headed by Justice Subash
05:48Reddy along with two other members who are looking at those aspects of co-operation related,
05:54the four co-operatives which were under the Sahara. And the final source, the Pearl Agro
06:01Co-operation Limited which is also linked to Sahara. Here, sir, 49,000 crores is what
06:09is the estimated amount which will eventually have to be distributed. Now, how many estimated
06:14number of, the honourable member kept asking, what is the number of claimants? What is the
06:19amount? We are giving you that. They are all estimated numbers. I don't know if there will
06:23be more or less. Estimated number for this one institution, Pearl Agro Co-operation Limited
06:30is 5.8 crores. Estimated number of investors. Now, amounts claimed till now, sir, number
06:41of claims which have come, 1.5 crore. And till date, claims are being sought in phased
06:47manner from people. Online processes are happening. Yes, but the variety of questions which are
06:56coming, I thought it will be of interest for several members. So I'm going. I'm seeking
07:02the time of the honourable speaker. If he wants me to sit down, I'll sit down. I have
07:05no problem, sir. Sir, the refunds, online processes of claims and refunds, I'm giving
07:11you one account, refunds of 1,021 crore to 20.8 lakh claimants with claims. And here,
07:24each claimant could have up to 19,000 crores. He must be 10,000, 12,000, 15,000 or 2,000.
07:31Up to 19,000 crores, jitne bhi claimants hai, they are 20.8 lakh claimants for whom 1,021
07:40crores have been distributed. Justice retired R. M. Lodaji is looking at this. He is a justice
07:47looking at it and reporting to Supreme Court. So we would like more claims to come. There
07:53is a portal created by Ministry of Co-operation saying, please put your names for those four
07:59co-operatives based organisation. Go to that portal, register your name. That committee
08:05of three people, inclusive of a retired judge, will look into the claims and money will be
08:09distributed. But we are seeking more claims, sir. I would request all the honourable members,
08:15if they have people who are approaching them, to please come. Put a legitimate claim, show
08:21the papers, take the money. We are waiting to clear it. But I just want to dispel this
08:27thought that Government of India is not doing anything. We are constantly reporting to the
08:32Supreme Court. Three panels of retired Supreme Court judges are monitoring us. They are approving
08:40every claim which is getting money back. So let us not in this House have a doubt about
08:47the intent and the interest with which the central government is working on this.
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