Hyderabad High Court seeks market value of Akshaya Gold assets
The bench said that it would not allow any amount to be deposited before the court until the identity of the company was disclosed.
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday directed the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh and the petitioner to submit to it the market value and government values of about 300 properties owned by the Akshaya Gold Company.
A division bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice S.V. Bhatt dealt with a petition filed by the depositors of the Akshaya Gold Company seeking the return of their deposits and a CBI probe into the company’s alleged fraudulent activities.
Senior counsel S.S. Prasad informed the court that a company was prepared to take over Akshaya Gold and that the chairman of that company had also filed a petition before the court in this regard.
He told the court that the company in question had id-entified the liabilities, depo-sits and properties of Aksh-aya Gold and even made so-me repayments to the depositors to prove that it was willing to deposit the court-ordered amount for a takeover.
Reacting to the submissions, the bench pointed out that in the Agri Gold case, the company that came forward with a takeover proposal and disclosed its identity; but in this case, the company was unwilling to disclose its identity.
The bench said that it would not allow any amount to be deposited before the court until the identity of the company was disclosed.
The bench also asked the counsel to inform the court what amount the company would be willing to pay for the Akshaya Gold properties, without reference to its liabilities and deposits. The bench said that the court would take care of the refu-nds owed to the depositors.
While asking the authorities and the company to place the market and government values of the Akshaya Gold lands before the court, the bench adjourned the case to March 5.