Sebi has ordered developer Highway Users’ Centres to wind up its collective investment scheme and refund Rs 10.5 crore taken from more than 17,000 investors, within a month. If the company fails to comply, Sebi will start prosecution, ban the company and its promoters for five years and write to the state government and the Department of Company Affairs for further action against, it said in an order. Highway Users’ had said in a 2002 letter that “the company’s experience in developing resorts in remote areas has led the company to launch investment schemes which are now under the purview of Sebi (collective investment schemes) Regulations, 1999”. But the Sebi rule says no person other than a collective investment management company, which has obtained a certificate of registration, should carry on a collective investment scheme. The firm failed to file any information with Sebi and did not apply for registration needed to conduct a collective investment scheme. Sebi’s latest order says the company transferred an amount of Rs 10.53 crore collected from 17,026 investors under the scheme to Suman Motels between 1995 and 1998.
