Only ‘Genuine Depositors’ of Sahara Cooperative Societies will be Compensated in 9 Months: Amit Shah

“Genuine” depositors of Sahara Cooperative Societies will be paid their amount through the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies no later than nine months, replied Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah to a question asked by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi about the future of the investors.

Modi had asked about the amount that has been allowed to withdraw from Sahara-SEBI fund to repay the investors of four multi-state co-operative societies run by the Sahara Group.

Shah said, “As per the submissions made by the four Sahara group of cooperative societies namely Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., Lucknow, Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Society Ltd, Bhopal, Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd, Kolkata, and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd, Hyderabad, during the hearings held in November, 2019 to December, 2020 before the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, an amount of Rs 62,643 crore had been invested in Aamby Valley Ltd and Rs 2,253 crore has been taken out from Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd and deposited with SEBI.”

The Minister of Cooperation further explained that of the total amount of Rs 24,979.67 crore lying in the ‘Sahara-SEBI Refund Account’, Rs 5,000 crore will be transferred to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, who, in turn, will transfer the amount into the bank accounts of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies depositors in “the most transparent manner” and after “proper identification”.

The disbursement of the amount will be supervised and monitored by Justice R. Subhash Reddy, former judge of the Supreme Court, along with advocate Gaurav Agarwal, who is appointed as Amicus Curiae, as well as the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Shah said.

The manner and modalities for making the payment needs to work out by the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies in consultation with Justice Reddy and Agarwal.

The minister further said the amount will be paid to “genuine depositors” no later than nine months. The balance amount be again transferred to the ‘Sahara-SEBI Refund Account’.

‘Sahara-CRCS Refund Portal’ was set up on July 18 for submission of claims by the depositors of four Multi-State Cooperative Societies of Sahara Group, and can be accessed through the Ministry of Cooperation website.

The depositors can log in to the portal and submit their refund claims by filing an online application and upload requisite documents i.e. proof of their deposits and claims. “Only claims filed through online portal will be entertained. Subject to fund availability, the payment to the genuine depositors will be credited in their Aadhaar seeded bank account within 45 days after filing their online claims,” Shah said.