Agri Gold asked to identify auctioneer

The PIL bench of the High Court at Hyderabad on Thursday directed Agri Gold Company to identify a particular institution which was likely to conduct an auction and inform to the court prior to the date of next hearing. The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice SV Bhatt was dealing with a public interest writ petition filed by Telangana Agri Gold Customers and Agents Welfare Association, represented by its President A Ramesh Babu.

As reported earlier, the petitioner complained that the company had failed to pay many depositors and around 70 depositors and agents had already committed suicide. The company sought permission from the court to sell around 1,412 acres of land in Krishna, Guntur, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and Mahabubnagar district in Telangana and Bidadi and Hubli towns in Karnataka to repay the amounts to the depositors.

The bench expressed doubt whether the amounts which were likely to be received through auction would be sufficient or not to repay the depositors who invested more that Rs 7,000 crores, the bench said “The auction will be held under the supervision of the High Court. All the payments will be allowed only through cheques drawn in favour of Registrar General of the High Court”. The bench adjourned the matter to September 14.