Sebi moves SC against Sahara for alleged blocking of Aamby Valley sale

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is reported to have filed a contempt petition against Sahara Group in the Supreme Court for alleged hampering of Aamby Valley sale.

The Supreme Court last month place the Aamby Valley resort town on auction at a reserve price of Rs37,392 crore and the auction had reportedly attracted two bidders and the parties had submitted their KYC details as required for the initiating the auction process.

However, several real estate consultants had argued that it would be almost impossible for any single real estate player in India to buy such a huge property, a hill resort town in Maharashtra where a number of high profile celebrities are said to have invested.

Besides, as the sector has been going through a severe cash crunch, it was also difficult for them to even arrange loans from banks.

The properties on auction include an integrated hill city township spread over 6,761.64 acres in the great Sahyadri mountain range, 1,409.865 acres of land surrounding Aamby Valley City Development and land measuring 321.65 acres within the Satara district.

Sahara, which pegs the project's market valuation at over Rs1,00,000 crore, had earlier said the liquidator has initiated only first two steps of the auction by issuing advertisement for interested bidders and verifying their KYC (Know Your Clients). The Supreme Court had said that the sale would be withdrawn if Sahar managed to deposit Rs1,500 crore before the next date of hearing.