Supreme Court: Anybody obstructing auction would be jailed

The Supreme Court today took strong exception to the Sahara Group allegedly obstructing theauctioning process of Aamby Valley and warned that anybody indulging in such an act would be held liable for contempt and sent to jailThe apex court was irked when SEBI claimed that the group had allegedly obstructed the process by writing a letter to the Pune police raising the issue of law and order at the prime propertyTaking note of SEBIs allegation in this regard a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said the group should not have entered into a communication with Punes Superintendent of the Police Rural on the issue since the auction has been ordered by the top courtIf any impediment is caused in the auctioning process by anyone he shall be liable of contempt of this court and sent to jail the bench also comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri said The punishment for contempt is up to six months of simple imprisonmentLater however the apex court clarified that it was not initiating any contempt action at this stage Regarding SEBIs allegation that the police has taken custody of the property due to which no bidder was willing to take part in the auction process the bench directed the Director General of Police Maharashtra to see that the property is handed over to the Bombay High Courts official liquidator within 48 hoursYou go ahead with the auction the bench said Senior advocate Arvind Datar appearing for Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI told the bench that the September 28 communication addressed by the group to the Pune police regarding law and order situation at Aamby valley has stalled the ongoing auction processSEBI also said the letter was also sent to the additional chief secretary and no bidder was coming forward to bid for the property as the police while taking note of the letter has taken its custodyMeanwhile senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi representing the group objected to these submissions saying completely wrong statements are made to prejudice the courtNo bidder has come I group am not standing in the way I have not halted anything and have not given property to the police he saidHowever the bench asked the official liquidator to go ahead with the auctioning process under the direct supervision of the company judgeIt also said the official liquidator shall take guidance from Justice A S Oka sitting judge of the Bombay High Court in the matterThe bench said Justice Oka and the company judge shall work in harmony so that the auctioning process goes on smoothlyThe top court was hearing the SEBIs plea seeking contempt action against the Sahara group for allegedlyobstructing the auctioning process of Aamby ValleyIn its plea the SEBI has alleged wilful and deliberate attempt on Saharas part by adopting a subterfuge to cause interference with the administration of justice especially in a court directed and monitored auction sale of the Aamby Valley property under various orders of the apex courtOn August 10 the apex court had rejected Sahara chief Subrata Roys plea to put on hold the auction processIt had said that the auction process would proceed as per schedule and if Rs 1500 crore is paid by Roy in the SEBISahara refund account by September 7 then it may pass an appropriate orderThe Sahara Group had earlier sought 18 months time to repay around Rs 9000 crore balance of the principal amount of Rs 24000 croreRoy who has spent almost two years in jail has been on parole since May 6 last year The parole was granted the first time to enable him attend the funeral of his mother It has been extended since thenBesides Roy two other directors Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary were arrested for failure of the groups two companies Sahara India Real Estate Corporation SIRECL and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd SHICL to comply with the courts August 31 2012 order to return Rs 24000 crore to their investors