SC asks Supertech to deposit Rs 10 Cr more,NBCC faults project

Supreme Court today directed real estate major Supertech Ltd to deposit Rs 10 crore to refund those home buyers who want to wriggle out of the disputed Emerald Court project, two towers of which have been found to be non-compliant of building laws by NBCC.
"In the meantime, builders M/s Supertech Ltd shall deposit Rs 10 crore with the registry by January 3, so that the people are not in any kind of illusion," a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy said.
The bench noted that some home buyers wanted to remain in the building but some want refunds of the investments made.

It said those home buyers who want their refund back needed to be given back the funds, but clarified that Rs 10 crore to be deposited before the registry of the apex court will be without any prejudice of the contention raised during hearing of the matter.
The day's hearing commenced with Additional Solictor General P S Narasimha submitting the report of National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd which was asked by the apex court to examine the alleged violations of the building rules in Supertech's Emerald Court project in Noida as the Allahabad High Court had ordered demolition of the two towers.

No sooner the report was accepted by the bench, senior advocate Jayant Bhushan appearing for the PIL petitioner before the High Court said "the NBCC report is in our favour".

Bhushan, on being questioned about the locus, said it was their petition on which the High Court had ordered demolition. "We are the original petitioners having flats in close vicinity of the alleged structures," he said.
The NBCC report said, "The open space available between the two towers Tower 1 (Aster 2) and Tower 17 is less than 20.45 metres as prescribed in the NBC rules.
"Thus from the above observations and inferences, NBCC concludes the opinion that the two towers, Tower 1 (Aster 2) and Tower 17 is not compliant with the REG 24.2.1(6)of Noida Building Regulations 2010."

The bench which took on record the NBCC report on the building in questions, asked ASG to ensure that an expert from NBCC is present in the court on the next date of hearing on November 23.
Subramanium said as directed by the court, the firm has deposited Rs 5 crore with the registry but added that many home buyers do not want refunds but only few wanted.
The bench said "If the project is violative of the laws, then it will be demolished. That was the reason we had appointed an experts body to look into the alleged violation".

The apex court had on September 6 given a stern message to the firm asking it to return money to investors who wanted refunds. It had directed the company to pay 10 per cent per annum of the invested amount from January 5, 2015 to 17 home buyers, who were before the court, within four weeks.
It said the real estate firm has to clear the arrears to the home buyers in four weeks.
The company had earlier told the court that a total of 628 people had approached the company, of whom 274 have sought alternate arrangements, 74 asked for re-investment and 108 have sought refund.

The apex court had directed the NBCC to submit its report by October 25 after inspecting Supertech's Emerald Towers to ascertain whether the two 40-storey buildings were built in green area in violation of the sanctioned plan.
On July 27, the court had asked NBCC to visit the site of twin tower and submit a report on alleged violations.
Earlier, it had directed the company to deposit Rs five crore in its Registry as part of refund to homebuyers for the project in which Allahabad High Court had ordered demolition of the twin towers.
The Allahabad High Court had on April 11, 2014 ordered demolition of the two 40-storey residential twin towers -- Apex and Ceyane -- in Noida and directed Supertech to refund money to homebuyers with 14 per cent interest in three months.

The two towers have 857 apartments, of which about 600 flats have already been sold.
The apex court had on February 16 last year directed Supertech to refund money to the flat owners, saying "developers can't take investors for a ride.