Amit Shah launches portal for refund of 10 cr depositors of Sahara Group

New Delhi, July 18

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal which will help more than 10 crore depositors of Sahara Group claim their money back and said that now no one can stop the money now and that they will get the refund in 45 days after registering on the portal.

“The process of returning the money of depositors, which was stuck in four cooperative societies of Sahara Group, has started with the launch of Sahara Refund Portal,” Shah said while launching the refund portal here.

The Minister dubbed it as a historic moment, and said that this is the first time when depositors are getting refunds in a case where multiple government agencies are involved and each one has done a seizure.

In assurance to depositors, Shah said, “Now no one can stop their money and they will get the refund in 45 days after registering on the portal.”

The Minister said that the depositors would get up to Rs 10,000 refund and subsequently the amount would be enhanced for those who have invested higher amounts.

He also said that the corpus of Rs 5,000 crore would be able to take care of the needs of 1.7 crore depositors in the first phase and once the Rs 5,000 crore is utilised, the government will approach the Supreme Court and request them to release more money so that the total refund of other depositors with higher amounts are processed.

Shah said there are two important requirements: one is Aadhaar registration with mobile and Aadhaar-linking with the bank account where refund is to be deposited.

He said that Common Services Centre (CCS) would also help and guide depositors for online registration on the portal for refund.

The CRCS Portal has been developed for submission of legitimate claims by the genuine depositors of four Cooperative Societies namely; Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Society Ltd., Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd.

On March 29, the government said that money will be returned to 10 crore investors of four cooperative societies of Sahara Group within 9 months.

The announcement followed a Supreme Court order directing transfer of Rs 5,000 crore from Sahara-Sebi refund account to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS).