Why Sahara-Adani Rs 12,000 cr deal is getting delayed? Employees in lurcgh as salaries on hold

Why Sahara-Adani Rs 12,000 cr deal is getting delayed? Employees in lurcgh as salaries on hold

New Delhi: The problems of Sahara Group have increased. The huge asset sale deal worth Rs 12,000 million to Adani Properties is currently stuck, because the central government has asked for more time to file its reply in the Supreme Court. Due to this, not only the development of the deal has stopped, but the decision of long-withheld salary of Sahara employees has also been postponed.

On Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the government needs extra time to prepare a detailed reply considering the complexity of the case and its impact on the investors-cooperative societies involved.

The court accepted their demands and fixed the next hearing after six weeks. This simply means that Sahara employees will have to continue waiting for their outstanding salary for some more time.

What is Sahara-Adani's 12,000 crore deal?

Faced with a terrible economic crisis, Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd (SICCL) has sought permission from the Supreme Court to sell 88 of its properties — including Aamby Valley, Hotel Sahara Star, Sahara Shaher, Sahara Ganj and many other large land parcels — to Adani Properties. A term sheet has also been signed between the parties, according to which Adani Group is ready to buy all these assets in one go, even if there is a legal dispute over some properties. Sahara says that after receiving such a huge amount, he will be able to reduce financial pressure by repaying his outstanding debts and the money of investors can also be returned.

There are many technical and legal issues stuck in the deal. First of all, this is an incomplete reply from the central government. In fact, the government has said that this deal can have an impact on thousands of co-operative societies i.e. cooperative societies and their investors, whose money is linked to the Sahara group. Therefore, the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Cooperation also need to be made parties in the case.

Other than this, the second reason is the pending SEBI report. The Supreme Court had already directed SEBI to clear its stand on Sahara's petition. But the final response from SEBI has not yet been filed.

The third and last reason is about the actual condition of the properties. In fact, court-appointed Amicus Curiae Shekhar Nafade said that he is constantly receiving claims which state that Sahara has not shown many properties in its official list. He suggested that the company make public the complete and accurate property list on its website, but the court has not given any order on this yet.

Sahara employees’ salaries delayed

Many employees of Sahara have submitted an application to the Supreme Court requesting the release of their outstanding salary. But the matter could not go ahead in Monday's hearing. The court also deferred the salary applications of employees till the next date. That means the payment of salary has been postponed, because the matter will now depend on the government's response and the arguments of other parties. In such a situation, employees will have to stay at least for the next hearing i.e. 6 weeks.

The Sahara-SEBI dispute has been going on for a decade. In 2012, the Supreme Court ordered Sahara to return the Rs 24,000 crore raised through OFCD schemes to the investors with 15 percent interest. Sahara claims that it has deposited around Rs 16,000 crore, while SEBI says it still owes more than Rs 9,000 crore. After the demise of founder Subrata Roy in 2023, the group's operational capacity has weakened and many properties have been stuck due to court or SEBI orders. This is why the group is saying that it is not possible to complete big deals without the permission of the court.