New Delhi: Paving way for sale of Unitech’s unencumbered assets to raise money to refund homebuyers, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the amicus curiae (friend of the court), Pawan Shree Agrawal to issue a public notice in all the leadings newspapers inviting objections to sale of its land parcels across the country.
A bench headed by Chief Justice, Dipak Misra imposed a cost of Rs75 lakh on a Chennai-based company, Omshakthy Agencies (Madras) Pvt. Ltd which had earlier proposed to buy land and deposited Rs90 lakh in this regard.
The court was also informed of new prospective buyer, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Pvt. Ltd for the company’s land in Bangalore for which it was willing to pay Rs110 crore. It has been directed to be deposited by 11 May.
At the last hearing, the top court asked the real estate firm to furnish a complete list of its unencumbered assets in India and abroad. This was to include details of personal assets of the company’s promoters.
In October, Unitech told the court that it would like to monetize its unencumbered properties and other assets to recover money that would be used for the process of refunding buyers and completing projects that are stuck.
The court also ordered the setting up of a website for those who have invested in Unitech’s project.
The real estate company was required to deposit Rs750 crore by December to secure bail for its director Sanjay Chandra, who is in jail in a case of alleged forgery lodged by buyers of a Unitech housing project in Gurugram. The money has not yet been deposited and repeated requests to release Chandra have been denied by court.
A total of 4,688 homebuyers are claiming a refund of Rs1,865 crore from Unitech. They have booked units in various projects undertaken by the company.
The matter will be heard next on 2 May.