New Delhi: The National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) India Ltd on Thursday told the Supreme Court that 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. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit asked the NBCC to place before it a "concrete proposal" within 30 days as to how it proposes to complete the projects along with a time line.
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.
NBCC Chairman Dr Anoop Kumar Mittal, who also appeared in the court, told 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.