The National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) India Ltd today told the Supreme Court it was ready to "undertake" the projects of embattled real estate major Amrapali group of companies, which has failed to hand over possession of flats to around 42,000 home buyers.
The court told the NBCC that funds collected by the group from home buyers would be made available to them to complete the projects and asked the builder and representatives of the buyers to assist the corporation and provide all documents.
The bench came down heavily on Amrapali group for its failure to comply with the court's directions and adhering to the undertakings furnished to the court and recalled its earlier order asking the builder to deposit Rs 250 crore.
Allowing the recall application filed by the group, the bench said that conduct of the realtor was "wholly unfair" and it was "absolutely improper" that it has not complied with the order.
"You (group) have not deposited the money. How can we rely on you? Why should we trust you? You are not providing water (to home buyers who have got possession) and have no lifts. You have earned money and you are not even providing water. What kind of person are you?," the bench said.
The bench also took note of the alleged diversion of Rs 2,765 crore by the Amrapali group and asked the auditor to submit a report on it.
The apex court directed its registry to intimate the banks about its order, freezing all the bank accounts of the 40 firms of Amrapali group of companies.
During the hearing, the group placed before the bench the record of bank account details of 38 out of the 40 firms and said that individual account details of their directors would be filed soon.
Durga Shanker Mishra, secretary of Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, appeared before the court and said the Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a committee under his chairmanship to look into the problem of home buyers of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway and that the panel was set up to take a policy decision on ways to resolve the problem.
He said the committee had held meetings on June 25 and July 10 after which four realtors -- Amrapali, Unitech, Jaypee and 3C -- were called for a meeting on July 18 to know about the status of their projects and problems faced by the buyers.
He said he was not aware of the apex court's order in Amrapali's matter and never intended to violate the orders.
NBCC Chairman Dr Anoop Kumar Mittal also appeared in the court in pursuance to its direction and said that the corporation had issued a general advertisment inviting co-developers and it was not specifically for Amrapali group.
The bench had yesterday taken umbrage as to how NBCC had issued advertisement inviting co-developers for allegedly doing work related to Amrapali group without taking approval of the apex court.
Mittal told the bench that NBCC was ready to undertake the projects of Amrapali group to complete the work and it would conduct a detailed study before making a proposal.
The NBCC chairman initially told the bench that it needed 60 days time to come out with a proposal in this regard but after court said that they have to expedite the process, Mittal said the corporation would do it in 30 days.
"We appreciate the gesture of the NBCC chairman who assures us that he would submit the proposal within 30 days. Let the proposal be placed before us within 30 days," the bench said.
The bench also appreciated the committee under the chairmanship of Mishra for undertaking a study to form a policy to solve the problem of other hassled home buyers.
It made it clear that the committee should first apprise the court, which is seized of the matters related to other builders, before taking any further step in those cases.
The bench fixed the matter for hearing on August 8 and would deal with the issue related to bank account details of the firms as well as their directors.
The top court had yesterday cracked the whip on the Amrapali group for playing "fraud" and "dirty games" with the court and ordered attachment of all the bank accounts and movable properties of 40 firms of the real estate major.
It had directed the group to place before it the details of all of its bank accounts from 2008 till today and ordered freezing of bank accounts of the directors of its 40 firms, besides attaching their personal properties.
The group had earlier told the court in an affidavit that it was not in a position to complete the projects and hand over the possession of flats to over 42,000 home buyers in a time-bound manner.
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