The Supreme Court today froze the private property of all the directors of Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL).
All the 13 directors — five promoter directors and eight independent directors — of JAL were personally present at the Supreme Court today. They also disclosed their personal assets in an affidavit to the Supreme Court.
The next hearing is scheduled for January 10, and all the 13 directors are required to be present.
The three-member bench — comprising Chief Justice Deepak Mishra, Justice AM Khanvilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud — brought out the order. Now, without court order, the directors — or their family members — will not be able to sell property.
JAL also deposited a cheque for Rs 275 crore before the court today. It has been asked to submit another Rs 275 crore by December 31 this year. It has also been allowed to phase out the payment — while Rs 150 crore needs to be paid by December 13, the rest needs to be paid by the last day of the year.
The SC also asked all the directors of JAL to deposit Rs 2,000 crore as soon as possible.
Homebuyers of Jaypee Wish Town demanded a forensic audit of the accounts of JAL and Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL) before the apex court.
The central government — through the Attorney-General — is looking at the possibility of conducting a forensic audit of JAL and JIL. The Supreme Court, thus, refrained from issuing any orders in this regard.
The SC also directed Pawan Shree Agrawal, the amicus curiae [an impartial adviser to the court] in this case, to set up a website for the homebuyers within a week from today.
The website would help maintain a detailed account of the money owed to homebuyers and also ease the refund process.
