SEBI to auction 66 properties of Saradha Group on April 11

Agencies, 14 Mar 2023, KOLKATA: Ten years after the collapse of the Saradha Group which allegedly ran a chit fund operation, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has finally decided to auction a total of 66 properties of the group to recover money raised by the firm from the public through illicit schemes. 

The properties to go under the hammer include land parcels located in Bengal, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice. This latest development came following a Calcutta High Court order of June 2022 directing SEBI to proceed with the auction of properties of the Saradha Group of Companies. 

The entire exercise was directed to be completed within three months. In September 2022, the regulator said that it will auction 69 properties of the Saradha Group of Companies on November 1 at a reserve price of Rs 30 crore. As per a SEBI notice, the properties will be auctioned on April 11, 2023, at a reserve price totalling Rs 32 crore. The regulator said that the e-auction will be conducted between 11 am and 1 pm on April 11, 2023. 

The SEBI notice read that bidders should make their own independent enquiries regarding the encumbrances, litigations, attachments and acquisition of liabilities of the property put on auction, prior to submitting their bid. 

“The purchaser shall participate in the e-auction on his own behalf and no third party intervention, like authorised agent/representative, would be permitted. The successful bidder shall bear the charges/ fee payable for the transfer of the property in his/her name. All taxes shall be borne by the purchaser,” the notice stated. 

Saradha Group was a consortium of over 239 private companies which allegedly ran chit-fund operations in West Bengal, Assam and Odisha. It had raised around Rs 4,000 crore from 1.7 million depositors before it collapsed in April 2013. Sebi has engaged Quikr Realty to assist it in the sale of the properties and appointed C1 India as the e-auction provider. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/sebi-to-auction-66-properties-of-saradha-group-on-april-11-511587