New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority to cooperate with homebuyers in reviving a long-abandoned housing project.
A bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, on Tuesday instructed the Authority to provide details of the financial demands it would have raised had the original builder completed the project. This would enable to determine proportional charges for each homebuyer based on apartment size.
The project was abandoned after the Cooperative Housing Society, which had taken the plot on lease from the Authority, failed to pay lease dues despite collecting money from homebuyers.
The Court criticized the Authority for its lack of cooperation in reviving the stalled project.
“We are not happy with the fact that the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority is not cooperating in reviving a dead project, where homebuyers have been cheated by a builder who disappeared decades ago. Some homebuyers have now joined together to revive the project, and others are also willing to contribute,” the Court observed.
Senior Advocate Ravindra Kumar, representing the Authority, sought a week to provide details of the demand structure, which would allow homebuyers to pay their proportional charges.
The Society, Golf Course Sahankari Awas Samiti Ltd, had applied for and was allotted land in 2004 as Plot No 7, Sector Pi-2, Greater Noida, Gautam Budh Nagar. However, homebuyers alleged that the Society, in collusion with financial institutions, defrauded them by failing to make payments to the Authority despite collecting funds from buyers. Many homebuyers had also taken loans from banks to purchase flats in the project.
In response, affected buyers initially approached the Allahabad High Court, filing a writ petition to challenge the Authority’s decision to terminate the lease deed in 2011.
The High Court, in its order passed on May 17, 2016, declined to intervene, upholding the lease cancellation due to non-payment of dues by the Housing Society. Following this decision, the homebuyers took the matter to the apex court.
A group of 40 homebuyers have since come together to revive the project. They argued that they have been engaging with the Authority, requesting details and exploring solutions to realize their aspirations of home ownership.
The homebuyers asserted that they were willing to pay their proportional share of dues but accused the Authority of withholding crucial information and failing to cooperate in the revival process.
The next hearing is scheduled for March 25.
