In a jolt to the realty firm, apex court also asks Bank of Baroda to recover the money from the builder and not from homebuyers
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Amrapali Group to convene a joint meeting with Noida and Greater Noida Authority representatives, homebuyers, legal counsels and lenders on March 31 and submit its report on the status of projects, and the amount required to complete them by April 6. The next date of hearing has been set for April 10.
Also, in a big jolt to the embattled real estate company, the Apex Court said that Bank of Baroda should recover the money from the builder and not from the homebuyers. Responding to the issue of insolvency raised by the bank’s counsel, the court said, “Flat buyers money belongs to them and no one can take it,” adding Bank of Baroda had lent the money to the builder and not the flat buyers; therefore, it cannot ask buyers to pay back the bank.
Noida Authority and Greater Noida Authority have also been directed to carry out an independent tower-wise inspection of all the flats to ascertain the deficiencies, statutory compliances required from the builder and submit the report in a week’s time, legal sources present at the hearing said.
The joint meeting to be convened by the builder on March 31 will be chaired by Ranjit Kumar, counsel for Amrapali Group. The fresh report will incorporate details such as completion status of all projects, amount required to complete unfinished ones and has to be submitted in court by April 6. Any objections to it have to be filed before the next date of hearing, i.e, April 10, the two-member bench headed by Justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit said.
“Advocate M L Lahoty had prepared his own independent note highlighting the deficiencies in Amrapali projects, the amount required and other details and presented it in court. The grievance of other counsels was that they had not been served with an advance copy,” said Shwetabh Sinha, advocate.
“Many counsels did not agree with the note submitted in court on Tuesday. They said that it was not in consonance with the joint inspection report. Therefore, the court directed the builder to convene an independent meeting and invite Noida Authority, Greater Noida Authority, buyers and lenders. Advocate Lahoty’s note is expected to act as a foundation note,” said advocate Kumar Mihir, representing the homebuyers.
The Supreme Court on March 15 had directed embattled real estate firm Amrapali Group and homebuyers to hold a joint meeting on March 17 at the Supreme Court consultation room to thrash out a joint statement.
The court had also clarified that they were not looking at the refund option right away. Its priority was to concentrate on completion of flats for homebuyers that are nearing completion
Last year, Bank of Baroda had filed an insolvency petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) after Amrapali had failed to repay a loan of Rs56 crore. The move caused panic among homebuyers as, according to them, their investment would not be protected under the insolvency and bankruptcy code as the NCLT would give preference to banks before buyers.
In September 2017, a group of homebuyers from Noida filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking protection of their investment. In January, buyers in five other stuck housing projects in Greater Noida also filed similar pleas. The apex court clubbed all the pleas and began the hearing.