Lok Sabha Question No. 2476 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-01
Subject: PACL Investors
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Bhagirath Chaudhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2476

TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY, 01 ST  AUGUST, 2022/ SRAVANA 10, 1944(SAKA)

## PACL INVESTORS

## QUESTION

## 2476. SHRI BHAGIRATH CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of Finance be pleased to state:

- a) whether the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made any strategy to pay Rs.5.85 crore to the investors of Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) by the order of Supreme Court on 2nd February, 2016;
- b) if so, the details thereof along with the time-limit fixed for it;
- c) whether the payment will remain the principal amount only or the maturity amount will include interest also and if so, the details thereof;
- d) the details of payment strategy for the aggrieved investors who did not apply through online portal due to deposit in the parent bond company;
- e) the head wise details of the total movable and immovable assets of PACL along with its total capital deposited in the banks;
- f) whether there is any working plan for sale or auction thereof and if so, the details thereof; and
- g) whether the Government has any concrete strategy for protecting the said investors and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (b) : Yes, Sir. A Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice (Retd) R M Lodha was constituted for disposing of the properties of PACL Limited, and pay the sale proceeds to the investors of PACL. The Committee had invited refund claim applications vide press release dated January 02, 2018 and February 08, 2019. The Committee had received approximately 1.50  crore  claim  applications.  The  Committee  has  adopted  phase-wise/  claim  amount-wise refund of monies to investors of PACL Ltd. depending upon the corpus available with the Committee and after verifying the claims submitted by the investor(s).

- (c)  : It  was  envisaged that only the principal amount to be paid to investor(s) in different phases and preference to small investors is given.

(d) : In respect of investors who could not submit applications through online portal earlier in 2019 when the window was opened for investors to submit their claims, the Committee vide public notice dated 16.10.2019 has informed the investors to await notification in this regard. Further,  based  on  availability  of  funds,  the  Committee  is  currently  facilitating  refund  to investors who had applied claims on online portal and whose claim amount is between Rs. 10,001/- and Rs. 15,000/-. The Committee has in this regard, after verification, has called for original PACL certificates from investors in respect of eligible applications. The window for submitting  original  PACL  certificates  in  respect  of  eligible  applications  was  initially  kept open  for  three  months  from  01.04.2022  to  30.06.2022.  Subsequently,  the  Committee  has extended  the  deadline  for  submitting  the  original  certificates  by  another  2  months,  till 31.08.2022.

(e)  : Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  vide  order  dated  02.02.2016  inter-alia  directed  the  Central Bureau  of  Investigation  (CBI)  to  hand  over  relevant  records,  including  Title  Deeds    in  its possession to the Committee so as to enable the Committee to sell the land. The Committee has received around 43,822 properties documents from the CBI and PACL Ltd. The property documents  received  by  the  Committee  has  been  put  on  public  domain  by  hosting  such documents on websites namely, www.sebipaclauction.com and www.sebipaclproperties.com. The Committee conducted an auction for sale of the properties of PACL Ltd. in 2017 and sold 114 properties for Rs. 86.70 Crore in the auction process. The Committee has also sold 75 vehicles of PACL Ltd. for Rs. 15.63 Crore through online auction. Further, the Committee has received Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) of PACL Ltd. from the CBI and has realized these FDR worth Rs.98.45 crores. The Committee has also recovered Rs. 356.95 Crore lying in  bank  accounts  of  PACL  Ltd  and  its  associates.  Further,  as  directed  by  the  Committee, SEBI filed a claim petition before the Federal Court, Australia seeking the assets acquired out of money diverted by PACL to Australia or the proceeds thereof. The Committee under an order of the Federal Court dated 03.06.2020, has received an amount of Rs 369.20 crores for effecting  refund  to  investors.  Further,  the  Committee  has  received  Rs.  1.97  Crore  from Collector  Land  Acquisition,  Punjab  towards  acquisition  of  properties  of  PACL  Ltd.  by Government of Punjab.

(f) :  The Hon'ble Supreme Court vide order dated 30.07.2019 authorized the Committee to explore alternative modalities for sale of properties and negotiate with Asset Reconstruction Companies  (ARCs),  Non-banking  companies  and/or  renowned  property  consultants,  post which  public  notice  dated  19.08.2019  23.08.2019  and  06.02.2020  were  issued  inviting Expression  of  Interest  from  prospective  buyer  for  purchase  of  properties  of  PACL.  The Committee has placed alternative proposals for disposal of properties of PACL vide its report dated  24.09.2021  for  consideration  of  the  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court.  The  report  is  presently pending for hearing before the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

(g)  : Central Government has notified Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, vide notification in Gazette of India dated 12/02/2020 which bans Deposit Takers from promoting, operating, issuing advertisements or  accepting deposits in any Unregulated Deposit Scheme.

****