Stating that both homebuyers and farmers need to be accorded priority while deciding on compensation matters, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) has said that while it plans to file an appeal in a week’s time before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) after its demand for additional compensation of around Rs 1,700 crore to be paid to farmers was rejected by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), it does not intend to challenge the resolution plan as buyers have ‘suffered’ a lot.
The NCLT order came while approving the Suraksha Group’s resolution plan for Jaypee Infratech.
“Homebuyers and farmers are both our priority and there has to be a fine balance,” said YEIDA CEO Arunvir Singh while confirming that Mumbai-based asset reconstruction company's managing director and CEO Aalok Dave had met him on March 9 to discuss the issue.
“NCLT has not discussed this matter in the resolution plan. The extra compensation is the land premium, the price for land that has already been settled in the Supreme Court. Suraksha Group has approached us and they want to find an amicable solution. They want to chalk out a strategy on how to make payment to farmers as they are aware that without making payment to the farmers they will not get the chunk of land and unless they are able to do so they will not be able to sell it or complete it (the project). It will be a challenge for them,” he told Moneycontrol.
YEIDA has clarified that it does not want to stop the resolution process. “It is related to homebuyers’ interest. They have suffered a lot. We will be filing an appeal within a week before NCLAT but submit to the appellate court that we do not want to stop the resolution plan. The solution with regard to the farmer’s compensation issue should come from Suraksha’s side and should be submitted to the NCLAT court. It should be part of the legal framework,” he explained.
“We have asked Suraksha to submit a formal proposal in the appellate tribunal. The resolution plan will not stop. Buyers’ interests are paramount and so is the farmers issue and both should be dealt separately. They should not come in each other’s way. Extra compensation is the land premium and it is not something that the authority has to receive,” he said.
A two-member principal bench of the NCLT headed by president Ramalingam Sudhakar on March 7 approved the resolution plan of the consortium of Suraksha Realty and Lakshdeep Investments and Finance, three months after concluding the hearing and reserving the order. The bench had reserved its order on the bid in November 2022.
It directed the interim resolution professional to set up an implementation monitoring committee within seven days.
It also dismissed objections raised by YEIDA, ICICI Bank and Jaypee Infratech’s parent firm Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL).
YEIDA had entered into a concession agreement with Jaypee Infratech in February 2003, and had filed claims of Rs 6,111.59 crore, mainly on account of pending works and external development charges (EDCs), unexecuted external development works and other future works.
It had also sought 64.7 percent additional compensation payable to farmers from whom it had acquired land. YEIDA also raised objections towards certain reliefs and concessions sought in the resolution plan and to the "transfer and monetisation of beneficial interest in land parcels" to the assenting financial creditors.
The NCLT rejected YEIDA’s demands, saying: “YEIDA was unable to explain that as to how it has created any security interest."
It also dismissed the objection raised by JAL and Manoj Gaur, the personal guarantor of Jaypee Infratech, that the successful bid failed to maximise the value of assets.