Roy fails to get early hearing on special facilities

New Delhi: Sahara Chief Subrata Roy may have to go back to the Tihar jail barracks as the deadline for use of the prison's conference room and other facilities for negotiating deals with prospective buyers of the Group's properties for raising money to ensure his release came to an end on Friday.

Roy's application filed early this week for extension of facilities by four to six weeks did not come up for hearing and an effort to get relief today from a bench headed by Justice T S Thakur failed.

The application was mentioned in the morning and the judge had said, after consulting with other judges of the special bench, that some message would be given.

However, Sahara Group's lawyer Keshav Mohan, said the application is now listed for hearing on Tuesday.

Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, also said that Roy's application was not taken up for hearing and it will be heard next week.

The apex court, which had asked 65-year-old Roy to pay Rs 10,000 crore to get bail, out of which Rs 5,000 crore should be paid in cash and rest in bank guarantee, had on January 9 extended its August 1, 2014 order for conference facility for him in Tihar jail to deal with the nitty-gritty of the transaction till February 20.

When Sahara's counsel, on February 17, had orally made a mention for extending the facilities, the apex court had expressed concern over how the Group would raise money to secure Roy's release saying "you are struggling to pay Rs 10,000 crore. How will you pay Rs 30,000 crore after coming out."

The court had asked the counsel for Sahara group to file an appropriate application in regard to its request.

Earlier, in a new turn of events in the case, RBI had moved the apex court seeking to implead itself as a party in the company's tussle with SEBI and sought to stop one of its firms from disposing off assets for securing Roy's release.

In an application, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had urged the apex court to restrain Sahara India Financial Corporation Ltd (SIFCL) from utilising any of its assets, including securities for paying dues to SEBI on the ground that SIFCL is Residuary Non-Banking Financial Firm and fell under its (RBI) regulatory control.

Prior to this, the Sahara group had informed the apex court that the proposed transactions for a loan of around US dollar 1,050 million from abroad for raising Rs 10,000 crore to ensure Roy's release from jail had failed.

The apex court, on January 9, had allowed Sahara Group to go ahead with its proposed transactions with some conditions including the approval of RBI for the transfer of the funds raised in the US to India to meet the requirement set for release of Roy, who is lodged in Tihar jail since March 4 last year for non-refund of over Rs 20,000 crore with interest to depositors.