Sahara co-ops asked either to repay or get ready for liquidation

The hearing on the matter of Lucknow based Sahara Credit Cooperative Society in the court of Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies took place through Video Conferencing recently in which it was asked either to repay or get ready for liquidation.

Hundreds of victims of Sahara Co-ops have written to everybody from PM to CMs to RoCs for relief for many months now. Even Indian Cooperative desk is flooded by such mails in dozens every day.

During the hearing, the Chairman and representatives of the Society had been directed to submit a credible plan for arranging the funds for the society’s regular functioning. In the case, the Management failed to provide a clear path for continuation of the society then the Authority would be left with no option but to initiate proceedings under Section 86 of the Multistate Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 which is related to winding up of multi state cooperative societies”.

Those who were present during the hearing included, D V Srivastava, Chairman, Karunesh Awasthi, MD, Samar Mandal, CA, Abhishekh Dua, Advocate, Sahara Credit Cooperative Society. The next hearing on the matter is fixed on 6 November 2020.

According to the proceedings released from the office of Central Registrar “The Chairman and representatives of the society present today through VC were asked about their capacity and plan to repay the depositors.

The Chairman of the Society requested that he should be allowed to function again as the Chairman as he has been duly elected this year. The Chairman has also sought six months’ time to set the house in order”, the details of the proceedings reveal.

The order sheet signed by Vivek Aggarwal, Central Registrar further reads, during the hearing, when asked about the resolution plan as well as the method of building confidence among the depositors, the representatives could not give a satisfactory reply. lt has been observed that in spite of the repeated instructions of this Authority’ the society has failed to submit a plan for liquidation of its investment and bringing in the funds to repay the depositors”, according to the order sheet.

Besides, the Authority has issued a Letter to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for investigating the investments made in various companies by this Cooperative society. Considering the present scenario, it is very important that investigation be completed quickly so that the trust of depositors can be safeguarded.

ln the meantime, the prohibition order against the society for taking any new deposits from the existing or new members shall continue to operate. It is further directed that the Society cannot renew any deposits as well, and shall make prompt payments to the depositors/members on the date of maturity”, the order sheet asserted.

In the order sheet it was mentioned that 34,000 complaints have been received by this authority in the last 7-8 months. On a daily basis Indian Cooperative received scores of mails of gullible investors of Lucknow based Sahara Credit Cooperative Society who used to share their grievances with us and on several occasions Indian Cooperative published the complaints of victims against the society.

It bears recall that the Sahara group has published an advertisement recently in which they have themselves admitted that the payment of depositors is being delayed.