The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Thursday asked the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) not to take any action against Sahara group till March 11.

SEBI had threatened to attach and freeze the properties of two Sahara group firms, its directors and its chief Subrata Roy Sahara after the two companies failed to comply with two Supreme Court directives for returning nearly Rs 24,000 crores to investors.

Subrata Roy had filed an appeal with SAT against the capital market regular's order for attaching his personal accounts and assets.

Tribunal member Jog Singh asked the market regulator not to take any further action against Subrata Roy, at least not until the next hearing, which is scheduled for March 11.

Two Sahara group firms had raised Rs 24,000 crore from investors via optionally fully convertible debentures, in violation with SEBI's fund-raising norms.

In August 2012, the Supreme Court had ordered SEBI to collect the money from the Sahara group firms and refund it to the investor. The apex court had also ruled that SEBI should freeze the firms' and their directors' accounts and attach their properties in case the firms failed to refund the money.

The Sahara has so fare paid only Rs 5,120 crore to the market regulator and claims that it has paid more than what it is liable to pay to the bondholders of the two firms.