Sebi blow: Sahara left with very few options

Sebi's blow last night has sent the Subrata Roy promoted Sahar Group reeling. Sebi orders backed by two Supreme Court rulings, has left little wiggle room for Sahara. CNBC-TV18’s Ashmit Kumar reports

The best way out for Sahara is just to return the money and get the matter over with is what experts said when asked what options Sahara had. That gives us an idea that there are very limited options available. Check out: Scheme Of Arrangement: SEBI Scrutiny Sahara has an interim application that is pending before the Supreme Court. In the application they have sought for furnishing securities instead of the monies. So, as of now they appear to betting on that for now. The second option that some experts highlighted was the fact that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act does not explicitly provide for any attachments. In fact even on the Section 11 of the SEBI Act, the attachments are interim in nature, and cannot extend beyond three months. So, the line of question can be extended as to did the Supreme Court in its directions to SEBI to attach the assets go beyond the statute. However, this has to be balanced out, has to be taken in context of Article 142, which provides very wide powers as far as the Supreme Court is concerned. On the point with respect to the personal assets of the three directors, and Subrata Roy himself; the experts did highlight that SEBI needed to make out a prima facie case of malafide intent before attaching the assets. So, there is some room for interpretation there as well but trouble times as far as Sahara is concerned.