Committee - Golden Forest (India) Limited

Appointed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India

Present status of claims


  1. As per orders of Hon’ble Supreme Court, claims had been invited from the depositors/investors of Golden Forests (India) Ltd vide advertisement dated 25.10.2004 for claims to be received upto 24.1.2005. After various applications filed by the promoters of Golden Projects Limited and others associate companies, claiming to be not part of Golden Forests India Limited Group, were heard and dismissed, the Committee on 1.7.2007 invited claims from depositors of Golden Projects Limited as well.

  2. As directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the period for the receipt of the claims from the investors and creditors was extended by 3 months and this information was widely advertised in leading vernacular newspapers of all the States and the period extended from 19.2.2005 to 20.5.2005. The Committee continued to receive claims even after expiry of the first period and the extended period. In all 1633949 claims have been received. The claims have been scrutinised, and prima facie 1473828 have been found to be valid.

  3. Hon’ble Supreme Court in its order dated 5.9.2006 had fixed 10.8.2006 as the cut off date for receiving claims. Hon’ble Supreme Court directed that no deposit accepted by an agent after 1.1.2001 is to be considered. The Court also directed that there should be clear proof of deposit of money with GFIL or its group. The liabilities were to be discharged by sale of the properties of GFIL and its group.

  4. The Committee disclosed before the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi on 24.4.2014 that as on 31.3.2013, it had fixed deposits of Rs 433.5 crores for disbursement. After deliberating upon the various options, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi proposed to consider the question of disbursement at a later stage after obtaining the report of an expert. Governor of RBI was requested to indicate the name of a suitable professional or individual who can assist in the task.

  5. Till February, 2018 sales of 42 properties by the Committee stood confirmed. About Rs 800 crores were available for disbursement. However, from this amount Rs 97.20 crores was seized by Income Tax Department from the Committee’s account against demand of capital gains from the Company. An amount of Rs 1.18 crore was deposited in favor of Income Tax Department as per order of Delhi High Court.

  6. Hon’ble Supreme Court vide order dated 30.7.2018 in Misc. Petition (Civil) No. 151 of 2018 in TP (Civil) No. 2 of 2004, directed that 70% of the principal amount be disbursed from the remaining Rs.700 crores to each of the investors, whose claims had been received and verified by the Committee. M/s. Karvy Investors Services Limited of Hyderabad was appointed for the disbursement process.

  7. On 5.9.2018, Hon’ble Supreme Court modified the order dated 30.7.2018 and changed the name of Karvy Investors Services Limited to Karvy Computershare Private Limited.

  8. The Committee had meetings with the Officers of Karvy Computershare Limited (hereinafter Karvy) and suggestions for creating a web portal for the investors for uploading their bank details and issuance of public notices to the investors were discussed. A web portal was designed and managed by Karvy. Consequently, Karvy started the website of the Committee. Notices to investors were published in leading national and regional newspapers. For the benefit of the investors a telephone helpline and an e-mail account were opened, and investors were provided a toll-free helpline number. As per the information furnished by Karvy, total 219871 calls were received during the period July 2019 to December 2021. Further 90153 queries were received, 45354 were replied by e-mail and 44799 were replied by physical letters.

  9. Committee opened a separate bank account with State Bank of India to facilitate funds disbursement through electronic mode. Between 6.12.2018 to 26.8.2021, Rs 2,768,485,727/- (say Rs 276.84 crore) were transferred to 423914 investors through electronic mode.

  10. As per order dated 1.12.2018, Hon’ble Supreme Court directed that in the cases of investors where bank particulars had already been furnished, payment be made on available data. In case information has not been furnished and no application has been filed by the investors, the 70% amount shall be disbursed through account payee cheques to investors on the available address.

  11. As on 1.3.2022, out of total 1473828 claims, 955943 have been paid 70% of their investments. Cheques sent to 238087 investors have been received back undelivered. Cheques sent to about 233098 investors have neither presented to bank nor received back. The Committee has sent reminder to them but no reply received. Rest of approx. 46700 claims are under scrutiny.

  12. Till 1.12.2021 Rs.460.56 crores have been disbursed to the investors. The cut off date of 10.08.2006 was ordered to be disregarded by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 27.11.2018. The Committee is still receiving claims which are being scrutinized in collaboration with Karvy.