Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday started the process of returning hard earned money of crores of depositors of four cooperatives of Sahara Group by transferring the first tranche of Rs 10,000 each to 112 small investors.
Shah said so far 18 lakh depositors have registered on the 'CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal', which was launched on July 18.
"So far, 18 lakh investors have registered on the portal. ...Today, about Rs 10,000 each has been transferred into the bank account of 112 investors," he said after releasing the amount.
Shah said the next tranche of funds will be transferred soon as the audit has been completed.
"I want to assure and I am fully confident that all depositors will get their funds in the coming days," he said, congratulating the depositors.
Shah further said many times such incidents happen that shake the trust in cooperation. However, it is responsibility of the government to ensure that investors' money is safe and returned to them.
Sahara depositors were not getting their money back for last 12-15 years because of the management fault and delay in court litigations, he said.
Highlighting the efforts made by Ministry of Cooperation to secure Rs 5,000 crore from the Sebi-Sahara Fund, Shah said the ministry took an initiative of bringing all government bodies concerned, including CBI and Income Tax department on this issue and made a common appeal before the Supreme Court that small investors should get the first right over the funds.
"If we have to strengthen cooperative movement in the country, then we have to strengthen the trust in cooperatives," he asserted.
On March 29, the government had said money will be returned to 10 crore investors of the four cooperative societies 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).
The CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal has been developed by a subsidiary of IFCI, for submission of legitimate claims by depositors of these cooperative societies.
There are two important requirements for registration on the portal -- Aadhaar registration with mobile and Aadhaar-linking with the bank account where refund is to be deposited.
Common Services Centre would also help and guide depositors for online registration on the portal for refund.
Cooperation Secretary Gyanesh Kumar and a retired Supreme Court judge were also present at the event.