'Execute contract to demolish 40-storey towers in one week'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed real estate major Supertech Ltd to execute a contract within a week with a company to demolish its twin 40-storey towers in its Emerald Court project in Noida.

The NOIDA authority informed the bench that it has finalised the company Edifice Engineering for demolishing the twin towers in consultation with the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) Roorkee.

The top court also directed Supertech Ltd to make the refund payments to the home buyers without prejudice to their rights and contentions. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant told senior advocate Parag Tripathi, appearing for Supertech Ltd., "The contract (with a demolishing agency) shall be executed no later within a period of one week from today".

The bench noted in its order, "Advocate Ravindra Kumar, appearing on behalf of Noida states that the agency which is to carry out the work of demolition has been finalised in consultation with CBRI. Parag Tripathi, senior counsel, appearing on behalf of Supertech Ltd. states that there are no objections to the agency, which has been finalised and the developer would be applying for all necessary NOCs within a period of one week. The application for NOCs shall also be marked to NOIDA authorities".

The top court refused to give more time to Supertech Ltd for entering into a contract with Edifice despite the repeated insistence of Tripathi saying that the No Objection Certificates (NOCs) can be obtained subsequently.

Tripathi submitted that the court can give one week for applying for NOC and Supertech will enter into the contract within two weeks. "I have already placed EOI which has terms of the contract. I just need the NOC, which the agency wants. It is the agency which has said that you please get the NOC. I have no difficulty in entering into contract", he said. The bench said, "No, you don't need two weeks to enter into a contract. You apply for the NOCs in the week thereafter. All authorities will grant you NOCs, it's a direct order from the Supreme Court. We will list it after two weeks for compliance".

At the outset, advocate Ravindra Kumar, appearing for Noida told the bench that subsequent to the last hearing, it has finalised an agency which is Edifice Engineering. "The CBRI has informed us and thereafter we wrote a letter to Supertech Ltd to finalise it. Now, Supertech has been informed by CBRI on January 14", it said.

Tripathi submitted, "We have finalised the agency and placed the Expression of Interest (EOI) but there are certain NOCs which are required and we are applying for it with a copy to NOIDA authority. Because it is possible that their intervention will be needed for instance for storing of explosives etc. so we will be applying for it with a copy to NOIDA authority and to the concerned state authority".

Kumar said that the difficulty is that they have to sign a contract with the company (Edifice) because the time period will come into play, which will commence from the date of the contract. Tripathi intervened and said that as far as the contract is concerned, the agency says that as soon as there are NOCs, they will do it, and hence Supertech is applying for NOCs.Senior advocate S Ganesh, also appearing for Supertech said that they have sent the details of making the refund to the amicus curiae Gaurav Agarwal but he said that there is some difference in the calculations.