Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah launched the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS)-Sahara Refund Portal https://mocrefund.crcs.gov.in in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The Union Cooperation Minister said that through this portal, first payment up to Rs 10,000 will be made to one crore investors who had deposited Rs. 10,000 or more.
He said that complete data of all the four societies is available online for applying on this portal. He said that all necessary provisions have been made in this process so that there is no scope for any kind of manipulation or injustice to any genuine investor.
This portal has been developed for submission of claims by genuine depositors of Cooperative Societies of Sahara Group – Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Society Limited, Hamara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited.
In his address Amit Shah said that this program is important because the concerns of people whose hard earned money is stuck in these 4 co-operative societies were not paid attention. In such cases, generally multi-agency seizure often happens but no agency thinks about the investor. This leads to feelings of great insecurity and mistrust towards cooperative societies.
Amit Shah said that many times allegations of scams are made and those who invest, their capital gets stuck like Sahara whose example is in front of everyone.
He said that the case went on in the Supreme Court for many years, the agencies sealed their properties and accounts, and with this, the credibility of the cooperative societies also got lost.
He further added that all the agencies together filed a petition in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court gave a historic decision to form a committee under the chairmanship of a former Supreme Court judge to start the payment process in a transparent manner.
“The process of returning the amount of Rs. 5,000 crore to the investors is starting today in a transparent manner on a trial basis. He said that after the completion of Rs. 5,000 crore payment, another appeal will be made in the Supreme Court to return the amount to the remaining investors”, he added.
Amit Shah said that people who have not made any investments cannot receive any refund in any way from this portal, but those who have invested will receive the refunds for sure.
The Union Minister of Cooperation instructed that arrangements should be made to file applications through the Common Service Center (CSC).
He requested all the investors to register online through the facility of CSC. There are two main conditions related to the process: first, the investor’s Aadhaar card must be linked to their mobile number, and second, the Aadhaar card must be linked to their bank account. Shah assured the investors that the money will be deposited into their bank accounts within 45 days.
The Union Minister of Cooperation said that a significant beginning has been made today. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the first time the investors are receiving their money which was stuck due to a scam, in a transparent manner, and it is a very big achievement.
The whole process of disbursement is being supervised and monitored by Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of Hon’ble Supreme Court with the assistance of Shri Gaurav Agrawal, learned Advocate, Amicus Curiae as per directions of Hon’ble Supreme Court. Four senior Officers on Special Duty (OSDs) have been appointed for each of the above Societies for assisting in the refund process.
On this occasion, Union Minister of State for Ministry of Cooperation B.L. Verma, Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of Supreme Court and Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Gyanesh Kumar along with the depositors of the four cooperative societies of Sahara Group were also present.
