1 2026:CGHC:23712 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 53 of 2022 1 - Swati Singh D/o Bahadur Singh Aged About 28 Years R/o Jorapara Sarkanda, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 2 - Sheela Yadav W/o Rakesh Yadav Aged About 41 Years R/o Jorapara Sarkanda, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 3 - Gopal Prasad Sahu S/o Manilal Aged About 51 Years R/o Ashok Nagar, Sarkanda, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 4 - Punch Ram Sahu S/o Ramsai Sahu Aged About 64 Years R/o Village Semra Singhri, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 5 - Parmeshwar Kumar Sahu S/o Thanwar Ram Aged About 44 Years R/o Khamtarai District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 6 - Melu Ram Sahu S/o Nekchand Sahu Aged About 27 Years R/o Ashok Nagar, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 7 - Smt. Rajni Pandey W/o Ravi Kumar Pandey Aged About 42 Years R/o Chantidih, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 8 - Vibha Mishra W/o Ravi Shankar Mishra Aged About 41 Years R/o Bandhwapara Sarkanda, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 9 - Rameshwar Singh Narmada S/o Chatur Singh Aged About 53 Years R/o Jorapara Sarkanda, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh SHYNA AJAY Digitally signed by SHYNA AJAY Date: 2026.06.17 11:20:53 +0530 2 10 - Nirmala Devi Narmada W/o Rameshwar Singh Narmada Aged About 52 Years R/o Jorapara Sarkanda, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 11 - Nirmal Sahu S/o Bodhi Ram Sahu Aged About 43 Years R/o Chingrajpara District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 12 - Mamta Tallewar W/o Ramu Aged About 42 Years R/o Sarkanda, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 13 - Keja Bai Dhruv W/o Malik Ram Aged About 55 Years R/o Ashok Nagar, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 14 - Pushplata Mishra W/o Suresh Mishra Aged About 52 Years R/o Sarkanda, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 15 - Balram Prasad Dewangan S/o Late Ramratan Dewangan Aged About 47 Years R/o Ashok Nagar, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 16 - Yogeshwari Dewangan W/o Balram Dewangan Aged About 40 Years R/o Ashok Nagar, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 17 - Vikas Dewangan S/o Laxmichand Dewangan Aged About 31 Years R/o Juna Bilaspur, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 18 - Narendra Dewangan S/o Ramcharan Dewangan Aged About 36 Years R/o Juna Bilaspur, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 19 - Beena Dewangan W/o Narendra Dewangan Aged About 32 Years R/o Juna Bilaspur, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 20 - Manish Dewangan S/o Ghanshyam Dewangan Aged About 33 Years R/o Devendra Nagar, Sarkanda District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 21 - Santosh Dewangan S/o Suraj Dewangan Aged About 42 Years R/o Katiyapara, Bilaspur, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 22 - Laxminarayan Dewangan S/o Late Bhagwati Prasad Dewangan Aged About 73 Years R/o Rajawa Colony, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 3 23 - Rahi Devi Dewangan W/o Deepak Kumar Dewangan Aged About 46 Years R/o Anjali Vihar, Bilaspur, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 24 - Somnath Soni S/o Jagannath Soni Aged About 60 Years R/o Chantidih, Bilaspur, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 25 - Devika Borekar W/o Late Yogesh Borekar Aged About 42 Years R/o Chingrajpara, Bilaspur, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 26 - Savitri Gupta W/o Shatrughan Gupta Aged About 25 Years R/o Juna Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 27 - Nirmal Kumar Dewangan S/o Late Sunder Lal Dewangan Aged About 45 Years R/o Karbala, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 28 - Ashwani S/o Ramnarayan Aged About 40 Years R/o Juna Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 29 - Shivam Kumar Dewangan S/o Gendram Dewangan Aged About 37 Years R/o Juna Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 30 - Sarita Dewangan W/o Nirmal Kumar Dewangan Aged About 37 Years Karbala Road, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 31 - Nikita Gupta W/o Yash Gupta Aged About 30 Years R/o Juna Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 32 - Gaurav Dewangan S/o Ashok Kumar Dewangan Aged About 30 Years R/o Juna Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 33 - Shikha Gupta D/o Shaturghan Gupta Aged About 27 Years R/o Baniyapara Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 34 - Pravin Dewangan S/o Ramesh Kumar Dewangan Aged About 33 Years R/o Karbala Road, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 35 - Birjesh Dewangan S/o Janak Ram Dewangan Aged About 40 Years R/o Karbala Road, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 4 36 - Savitri Rajak W/o Ambarlal Rajak Aged About 61 Years R/o Juna Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 37 - Swati Dewangan D/o Ratan Lal Dewangan Aged About 28 Years R/o Katiyapara, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 38 - Pooja Tejwani W/o Sandeep Tejwani Aged About 39 Years R/o Rajkishore Nagar, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 39 - Savita Rajak W/o Raju Rajak Aged About 52 Years R/o Fazalbada Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 40 - Pankaj Sahu S/o Aswa Sahu Aged About 27 Years R/o Jarhabhata, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 41 - Rajkumar Sahu S/o Dhruv Sahu Aged About 30 Years R/o Sarkanda, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 42 - Lingeshwar Kumar Dadsena S/o Damrulal Dadsena Aged About 26 Years R/o Village Amora Mungeli District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 43 - Santoshi Gupta S/o Late Mahaveer Gupta Aged About 50 Years R/o Sarkanda, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 44 - Rajesh Dewangan S/o Santsharan Dewangan Aged About 56 Years R/o Bandhwapara, Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 45 - Poornima Gupta W/o Ashwani Kumar Gupta Aged About 51 Years R/o Baniyapara, Juna Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 46 - Shweta Kushwaha D/o Ramvakil Kushwaha Aged About 31 Years R/o Industrial Area Korba District Korba Chhattisgarh 47 - Ramsewak Singh S/o Late Raja Ram Singh Aged About 54 Years R/o Industrial Area Korba District Korba Chhattisgarh 48 - Ram Vakil Singh Kushwaha S/o Raja Ram Kushwaha Aged About 73 Years R/o Industrial Area Korba District Korba Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner(s) 5 versus 1 - Union Of India Through The Secretary, Department Of Agriculture, Cooperation And Farmers Welfare Office At Central Registrar Of Cooperative Societies, New Delhi 2 - Territory Head, Sahara India Bhawan Kapurthala Complex Aliganj, Lucknow U. P. 3 - Deputy Managing Director, Sahara India Bhawan Kapurthala Complex Aliganj, Lucknow U. P. 4 - Managing Director, Sahara India Bhawan Kapurthala Complex Aliganj, Lucknow U. P. 5 - Zonal Chief, Sahara India, Press Club Bhawan, in front of Medical complex, Rajbandhia Maidan, Raipur (CG) 6 - Regional Manager, Sahara India, Aishwarya Bhawan, Nr. D. P. Vipra College, 1st Floor, Union Bank of India, Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 7 - Sector Manager, Sahara India, Tiwari Complex, Shiv Talkies Chowk, Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 8 - Sector Manager, Sahara India, Transport Nagar Korba District Korba Chhattisgarh 9 - Franchise Guardian Sahara India, Masjid Chowk Lalkhadan Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 10 - Franchise Guardian Sahara India, Near International School, Kota, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Basant Dewangan, Advocate For Respondent(s) : Mr. Devershi Thakur, Advocate SB: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad Order on Board 6 15/06/2026 1. The depositors, who have deposited their money with respondent Sahara India through their local office located at their respective places of residence, have filed this writ petition seeking a direction to respondent authorities to pay them matured amount deposited by them, along with interest as also compensation and to take necessary legal action against respondents. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that petitioners have deposited the amount mentioned in their deposit slip/receipt from time to time with Bilaspur Branch Office of Sahara Group Cooperative Society Limited. Petitioners did not get back matured amount after maturity period for which they have issued legal notice to the respondents demanding matured amount with interest, but even after service of legal notice when maturity amount was not paid to them, petitioners have filed the present writ petition. 3. Learned counsel for respondent-Sahara submits that as appearing from the order passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in WPC No.191/2022, parties being Pinak Pani Mohanty vs Union of India & ors, a sum of Rs.23,937/- Crores of respondent Sahara is lying in Sahara / SEBI Refund Account. The Union of India, Ministry of Cooperation is considering the mode and manner of repayment to the depositors, therefore, the Union of India has submitted an interim application before the Hon’ble Supreme Court in WPC No.191/2022 for appropriate directions to transfer a sum of Rs.5,000 Crore out of of Rs.29397 Crore lying in Sahara/SEBI refund account, to be disbursed against legitimate dues of depositors of Sahara Group of Cooperative 7 Society. The Hon’ble Supreme Court considering interim application submitted, has directed for transfer of Rs.5,000/- Crore to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, who, in turn, will disburse the same. Disbursement of amount transferred to the Central Registrar is to be monitored and supervised by a former Judge of the Supreme Court with the assistance of an advocate appointed as Amicus Curiae. Pursuant to the order passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the Union of India has now launched a web portal in the name of ‘Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) – Sahara Refund Portal’ on 18.7.2023 in the official website of the Ministry of Cooperation and the depositors, who have deposited Rs.10,000/- or more, are to be registered themselves in this portal for refund of deposits made by them at first stage. 4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the pleadings and relief sought in writ petition. 5. The present writ petition is filed by the petitioner seeking a direction to respondents to make them payment of matured amount which they have deposited with respondent Sahara. An interim application has been submitted by the Union of India through Ministry of Cooperation before the Hon’ble Supreme Court in WPC No.191/2022 seeking permission to transfer a sum of Rs.5,000 Crore from Sahara refund account to be disbursed to legitimate depositors of respondent Sahara. Hon’ble Supreme Court considered interim application and issued following directions:- “(i) Out of the total amount of Rs. 24,979.67 Crores lying in the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account”, Rs. 5000 Crores be transferred to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, who, in turn, shall disburse the same against the 8 legitimate dues of the depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies, which shall be paid to the genuine depositors in the most transparent manner and on proper identification and on submitting proof of their deposits and proof of their claims and to be deposited in their respective bank accounts directly. (ii) The disbursement shall be supervised and monitored by Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of this Court with the able assistance of Shri Gaurav Agarwal, learned Advocate, who is appointed as Amicus Curiae to assist Justice R. Subhash Reddy as well as the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies in disbursing the amount to the genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies. The manner and modalities for making the payment is to be worked out by the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies in consultation with Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of this Court and Shri Gaurav Agarwal, learned Advocate. (iii) Rs. 15 lakhs per month be paid to Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of this Court and Rs. 5 lakhs per month be paid to Shri Gaurav Agarwal, learned Amicus Curiae towards their honorarium. (iv) We direct that the amount be paid to the respective genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies out of the aforesaid amount of Rs. 5,000 Crores at the earliest, but not later than nine months from today. The balance amount thereafter be again transferred to the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account”.” 6. From perusal of the above directions issued, it is appearing that the order passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court will give benefit to all the depositors of Sahara Group of Co-operative Society. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has also nominated a former Judge of Supreme Court for supervising and monitoring disbursement of amount to genuine 9 depositors of Sahara. Writ petition before Hon’ble Supreme Court is still pending consideration. As the Supreme Court is already dealing with the issue involved in these writ petitions, no different order can be passed by this Court in these writ petitions. 7. Consequently, taking note of the order/direction passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, which is for the benefit of all the depositors of Sahara, I am of the considered view that no fruitful purpose will be served in keeping these writ petition pending any further. 8. As the Hon’ble Supreme Court is already seized of the matter, any subsequent order passed by it will benefit the depositors in accordance with law. 9. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is disposed of reserving liberty to the petitioners to approach this Court again, if any exigency arises in the future. Sd/- (Amitendra Kishore Prasad) Judge Shyna Ajay