The court receiver for the Amrapali case, Attorney General R Venkataramani, on December 2 informed the Supreme Court that if the issues pertaining to raising finance for construction of completion of housing units are not resolved at the earliest, he would have to request the apex court to direct the state of Uttar Pradesh to take over construction and management of the embattled company.
The Amrapali matter was listed before the bench today for fixing the next date of hearing. The case will now be taken up on December 8.
Venkataramani informed the court that he is facing opposition from Noida and Greater Noida authorities in generating funds for the stalled Amrapali projects and that both the authorities have taken a stand that unused FAR (floor area ratio) should not be sold, he told a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi.
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 very less as compared to funds required for completion of pending projects and therefore they need to sell unused FAR.
In October, senior advocate Ravindra Kumar, appearing for the two authorities, had submitted that subdivision of plots is not allowed and that approval of homebuyers was required for the same after the court receiver had suggested that unused and additional FAR be sold.
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 him from responsibilities of court receiver, Venkataramani informed the court.
Homebuyers, through their counsel, submitted the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) has completed construction of around 3,000 flats left incomplete by the embattled firm Amrapali group, but no electricity and water connections have been provided by the Noida and Greater Noida authorities.
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.
The bench of CJI Lalit and Justice Trivedi had on November 2, 2021 reserved its verdict on the issue of the sale of unused FAR of Amrapali Group to generate funds for its stalled projects. The bench had been hearing an application for the sale of unused available space in Amrapali projects to fetch funds of around Rs 1,500 crore.
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.
In a setback to real estate developers in Noida and Greater Noida, the Supreme Court on November 7 recalled its June 2020 order that had directed the authorities to cap the rate of interest at 8 percent for the delay in payment of land dues by real estate firms to authorities. The Supreme Court bench on November 7 also said that the issue of FAR will be heard by the new bench.
NBCC has undertaken the completion of many residential projects in Noida and Greater Noida under the aegis of Amrapali Stalled Projects and Investment Reconstruction Establishment (ASPIRE) and supervision of the Supreme Court.
NBCC has been given approximately Rs 3,000 crore and it has completed around 11,000 Amrapali flats, out of which 5,000 flats have been handed over and around 26,000 are yet to be constructed.
During the hearing held on November 2, senior advocate Sidhartha Dave, appearing for NBCC, had said, “When the project was entrusted to us, we had over 46,000 flats to complete. So far we have handed over possession of 4,981 units and 6,877 more flats are complete but require external services, such as electricity, water, etc.”
The apex court, in its July 23, 2019 verdict, had come down heavily on errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by the home buyers and ordered the cancellation of registration of the Amrapali Group under real estate law RERA and ousted it from prime properties in the national capital region (NCR) by nixing the land leases.
The top court had directed a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into alleged money laundering by the promoters of the Amrapali Group, whose directors Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar were ordered to be put behind bars for allegedly siphoning off home buyers' money providing relief to over 42,000 home buyers.