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Informist, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026

 

--SC forms panel to verify former Sahara cos' employees claims on salary dues 

--SC: Panel in Sahara case to be headed by former Delhi HC judge

--SC: Panel to verify claims of former Sahara cos employees in 3 mos 

 

By Surya Tripathi

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court has formed a committee to verify and compute the claims of thousands of former Sahara Group companies' employees, seeking payment of unpaid salaries, gratuity, and other terminal dues. The committee will be headed by former Delhi High Court judge Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and may take assistance from officers of the district judiciary, chartered accountants, or any other person possessing the requisite expertise. 

 

The Bench of Justices M.M. Sudresh, Prasanna B. Varale, and Vipul M. Pancholi said that the committee shall complete the exercise of verification of the claims and quantification of the amounts payable to the employees, within three months from the date of commencement of its functioning and shall submit its report to the apex court. Upon receipt of the aforesaid report, appropriate orders regarding the release of the amounts shall be passed by the top court, said the Bench.  

 

The chairperson of the panel shall coordinate with the court-appointed amicus curiae to facilitate the release of funds from the SEBI-Sahara Refund Account held by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, towards the remuneration and administrative expenses of the panel, said the top court. The committee shall be at liberty to devise and adopt its own procedure for conducting the exercise of verification and quantification of claims, in accordance with law, it said. 

 

The Sahara Group and all concerned stakeholders shall extend their full support and cooperation to the committee and shall furnish all records, documents, accounts and such other material as may be required by the panel for verification and quantification of the claims, said the apex court. "We make it clear that the committee shall only consider the claims of those persons whose applications have been taken on record vide this order," said the apex court.

 

The court had noted that 770 claimants had approached them through interlocutory applications claiming unpaid salary, basic wages and other service benefits. In addition, Sahara Group had informed the apex court that it had furnished a list of approximately 16,000 persons whom it claimed were employees of Sahara Group companies and sought a mechanism for disbursing their unpaid dues, including salary, pension and other retiral benefits.   

 

Earlier, the market regulator had raised concerns that payments from the SEBI-Sahara Refund Account could be made only in respect of Sahara companies whose assets had actually been sold and deposited into that account. The top court, however, had observed that such issues would be considered after the verification exercise was completed.

 

The court was hearing a 2013 contempt case by SEBI against the Sahara Group for not complying with the apex court's 2012 order. A refund account, operated by SEBI and the Sahara Group, was set up after the court in 2012 directed Sahara India Real Estate Corp. Ltd. and Sahara Housing India Corp. Ltd. to refund almost INR 240 billion to those who had invested in their optionally fully convertible debentures between 2008 and 2011. Earlier, a public interest litigation was filed by one Pinak Pani Mohanty seeking a direction to pay the amount to the depositors who invested in several chit fund companies and Sahara credit firms.  End   

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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