On Noida's Stalled Housing Project That Court Is Getting Completed, Its Officer Flags Big Problem

Attorney General R Venkataramani, the court receiver for the Amrapali group projects, told the Supreme Court on Friday he is facing resistance from Noida and Greater Noida authorities in generating funds for the stalled projects and, if the situation remains so, the management of the company should be handed over to the Uttar Pradesh government.

Home buyers, through their counsel, submitted the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) has completed construction of around 3,000 flats left incomplete by the Amrapali group but no electricity and water connections have been provided by the Noida and Greater Noida authorities.

"I, as a court receiver and the Attorney General, am taking all efforts to generate more funds for completion of the stalled projects but Noida and Greater Noida have taken a stand that unused FAR (floor area ratio) should not be sold," Venkataramani told a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi.

Floor Area Ratio is the ratio of a building's total floor area to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. The FAR varies between cities and municipal areas.

"If the financial issue remains unresolved and Noida and Greater Noida stick to their stand, then the court may call in the Uttar Pradesh government and hand over the management control of the company and relieve me from responsibilities of court receiver," he said.

Advocates ML Lahoty and Anchit Sripat, appearing for home buyers, said though the NBCC, which was entrusted by the court the task to complete the stalled projects of the Amrapali Group of Companies in 2019, has completed around 3000 flats their possession cannot be handed over to the buyers for want of power and water connections.

The bench said it will take up all these issues on December 8.

A top court bench headed by then chief justice UU Lalit, which had reserved its verdict on November 1 on the issue of sale of unused floor area ratio (FAR) in order to generate funds for the stalled projects could not deliver the verdict before his retirement.

On November 7, the bench headed by Justice Lalit said it had received a note from Venkataramani suggesting handing over the management of the Amrapali group to the Uttar Pradesh government as he was facing hurdles from Noida, Greater Noida authorities in raising funds to complete the projects.

The bench had said the receiver's note required hearing all the parties concerned and directed hearing of the entire issue afresh.

The Noida and Greater Noida authorities have opposed the proposed sale of the unused FAR, while Venkataramani has supported it, saying it will help generate more funds.

Venkataramani had submitted more funds were needed to complete the stalled projects and, despite the payment made by home buyers, sale of unsold inventories and bank loans, the amount collected will be too little to take things forward.

The apex court had, by its July 23, 2019 verdict, cracked down on the errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by home buyers and ordered the cancellation of registration of the Amrapali group of companies under real estate law RERA and ousted it from prime properties in the national capital region (NCR) by nixing land leases.

It had directed the state-run NBCC to complete the stalled projects of the realtor, whose directors Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar were ordered to be put behind bars for allegedly siphoning off home buyers' money.

The court had vested all the rights in the court-appointed receiver -- senior advocate R Venkataramani.

The top court had also ordered a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into alleged money laundering by the promoters of the group.

Besides the Enforcement Directorate, the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) are also investigating various cases lodged against former officials of the real estate group.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)