SC refuses to pass order on Noida's plea seeking return of surplus land with Unitech

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday refused to pass any order on a plea by Noida Authority seeking return of 277 acre surplus land, worth Rs 8,000 crore, given to embattled realty firm Unitech Ltd on lease for housing projects which have not been built.

The top court told Noida Authority that it would be appropriate to wait till the newly constituted Board of Directors of the company submits a resolution plan for the cash strapped realty firm.

"At present, we cannot allow Noida to walk away with the surplus land, which would not be appropriate. Once the newly constituted board of directors submit a resolution plan, then we will see what to do with the surplus land," said a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Noida said that 347 acres of land was given to Unitech by the authority in three sectors for construction of housing projects but in major chunk of land, no construction has been made.

He said that thousands of crores of rupees are still outstanding on the part of Unitech to be paid to Noida and the unutilized land be restored to the authority. The bench said that releasing the land at present may affect the preparation of resolution plan being prepared by the board of directors.

"We are not saying that money is not to be paid to Noida. Its a public institution and its outstanding amount has to be paid. But at present, we are holding our hands back as it may affect the preparation of resolution plan," the bench said, while asking the parties not to treat the issue as adversarial. The top court said that after the resolution plan comes, it may monetise the surplus land and pay the outstanding amount to Noida but till then, it has to wait.

Mehta, then requested the court to direct the new Board of Directors to consider this aspect of surplus land in the preparation of resolution plan.

The top court directed that any decision taken by the new board should be a collective one and duly passed in a meeting. It also took exception to senior advocate P S Patwalia, appearing for new board of directors, and said that he had earlier appeared for old board of Unitech.