The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) today said consumers will have to pay much more, for properties in the region in future, after the Supreme Court (SC) disallowed acquisition of 176 hectares of land from farmers.
The authority also said it will return the land to the affected farmers according to the apex court ruling and will strictly follow the new land acquisition policy of Uttar Pradesh in acquiring land for future projects. “After this court order, we will acquire all future land keeping in mind the market price and hence will have to pay higher land prices. Automatically, sale prices will increase and hence end consumers will be impacted severely,” GNIDA Chief Executive Officer Rama Raman told PTI.
The authority will follow the court orders in “letter and spirit” and will return the land to farmers, he added. “Initially, we will return the land as per the orders. We will see later how we can proceed in this respect after going through the detail judgement,” Raman said.
He, however, did not specify what GNIDA will do to compensate the developers, but said it will acquire land at regular intervals “as and when necessary”. On Wednesday, the SC had upheld a verdict of the Allahabad High Court that quashed acquisition of 176 hectares of land from farmers in saying the authorities were “sub-serving” private builders in the name of public interest.
Raman, however, said real estate development in the area is unlikely to get affected due to the judgement.
“I don't think it will affect much, but due to procedural steps, we may only witness some delays,” he added.
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Meanwhile, real estate analysts said the SC decision is unlikely to affect much in the future, but rather it will help all stakeholders to approach cautiously.
“Demand will not be impacted much in the region as developers are taking various proactive measures to address customers’ concerns.
“From now onwards, all future transactions will see double verifications from all parties like consumers, developers and the government. It is a good thing for the sector to avoid any controversy,” Jones Lang LaSalle CEO (Operations) Santhosh Kumar said.
He said developers may feel some impact in the near future as they are either refunding the money or giving alternate locations to consumers, who had booked their properties in the disputed area.
Expressing similar sentiments, Cushman & Wakefield India Director (Residential Services) Shveta Jain said there will not be any significant impact to the existing customers as developers are relocating them to other projects in the area. “I think this will benefit the sector as a whole as developers will be more cautious in their approach. Also, the government will be more careful in acquiring land and similarly consumers will verify very well before purchasing new properties,” Jain said.
Using some strong words, the apex court had refused to interfere with the Allahabad High Court order which had held that the urgency provision applied by the GNIDA in setting aside acquisition of land was “entirely a colourable exercise of power”.
The verdict had said even before the government gave its nod to change the land usage from industrial to residential purposes, GNIDA had allotted the land to some private firms.
Following the order, realty apex body Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai) had assured that about 6,000 affected flat owners, who booked their houses in the projects of seven firms, would either be moved into other projects or their money would be returned.
“The Supreme Court’s decision has affected the projects of 6-7 builders including Amrapali and Supertech. About 6,000 buyers have been affected but developers have taken steps to compensate buyers by shifting them to some other projects or refunding money,” Credai president (Western Uttar Pradesh Chapter) Manoj Gaur had said.