The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Jaypee Associates to deposit Rs 125 crore by January 25 or face contempt of court charges or jail term, IANS reported. The bench also ordered the firm to file an affidavit specifying the number of housing projects they have in the country and the stage of construction they are at.

The amount is part of the Rs 2,000 crore that the court had ordered the firm to deposit with its registry to ensure that people who had invested in homes constructed by the firm receive a refund.

The Supreme Court also proposed that a separate portal for Jaypee Associates Limited home buyers be set up. The court will hear the matter again on February 5.

Several home buyers had sought the court’s intervention after the National Company Law Tribunal had allowed insolvency proceedings against the group’s Jaypee Infratech. On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India had asked the Supreme Court to initiate insolvency proceedings against the firm.

On September 4, the Supreme Court had stayed the bankruptcy proceedings after home buyers told the bench they would lose all their money and asked the court to protect their interests. Their plea claimed that home buyers, who are unsecured creditors, will get nothing out of the bankruptcy proceedings as dues of the financial institutions would be cleared first.