Providing relief to home buyers, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the drastic decision of auctioning personal properties of directors of embattled real estate firm Unitech and its subsidiaries will be taken if it fails to deposit Rs 100 crore by May 11. The next date of hearing has been fixed for May 14.
The apex court ordered that no director of the company will be allowed to create third party interest on personal assets. If they do, they will face contempt of the court, legal sources present at the hearing said.
The Supreme Court asked the directors and subsidiaries of the realty firm to submit details of personal assets and also submit list of encumbered assets and the extent of encumbrance. The next date of hearing has been fixed for May 14, said Pawanshree Agarwal, amicus curiae in the matter.
The apex group said that the personal assets of directors can be liquidated to recover dues. The court also said that no director of the company will be allowed to create third party rights on personal assets, he says.
The Supreme Court in its April order had said that it will consider granting custody parole to the promoters in case Rs 180 crore are deposited with it by May 11. Unitech is yet to deposit Rs 750 crore to refund homebuyers. It has so far deposited Rs 18 lakh only. In this case, Rs 110 crore have to be deposited by the promoter and Rs 40 crore by the real estate firm’s collaborator Pioneer. Pioneer has already deposited Rs 40 crore, sources said.
This order, say experts, is on the lines of the Sahara case where after several orders, the firm refused to pay up and the court finally decided to auction its assets to raise money. “In this case too, since the real estate company’s promoters failed to comply with the court’s order even after a year, auctioning the company’s assets is the only option and the best hope for homebuyers,” says Abhishek Dubey, a Supreme Court advocate.
At the April hearing, the Supreme Court Wednesday took note of all the unencumbered assets of real estate major Unitech Limited and ordered that a public notice be issued inviting objections for auctioning them to realise the dues of the hassled home buyers.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had also imposed a cost of Rs 75 lakh on Om Shakti Agency (Madras) Pvt Ltd for its submission that it cannot deposit Rs 90 crore with the apex court registry in lieu of purchasing Unitech Ltd's property near Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
The company had earlier said it was going to purchase the land of Unitech Ltd and deposit the money with the apex court, which in turn would have disbursed it to the home buyers who wanted their money back.
The apex court had asked Agarwal, appointed as an amicus curiae to assist it in addressing the grievances of the home buyers, to issue a public notice in prominent dailies for ascertaining that the properties were free from incumberances and may be auctioned.
The bench had also considered the submission of senior advocate Ranjit Kumar that a Bengaluru-based company has taken over one of the subsidiaries of Unitech and would be paying about Rs 100 crore, which will be deposited with the apex court.
Unitech Ltd also said it was going to dispose of its 26 acres land near Bengaluru and asked the court to allow it to enter into the sale agreement with the purchaser. The bench had modified the order and allowed the company to go ahead with the sale of land in Bengaluru.
The court had earlier restrained the real estate company from selling or alienating its properties.
Earlier too, the court had asked Unitech Limited and its MD Sanjay Chandra to give a list of its unencumbered properties in India and abroad and made it clear that they would be auctioned to clear dues of home buyers.
The apex court had on October 30 last year said that its MD Sanjay Chandra would be granted bail only after the real estate group deposited money with its registry by December-end.
The top court had also directed the jail authorities to facilitate Chandra's meeting with his company officials and lawyers so that he could arrange money to refund the home-buyers as well as complete the ongoing housing projects.
Chandra is seeking interim bail from the apex court after the Delhi High Court on August 11 last year had rejected the plea in a criminal case lodged in 2015 by 158 home-buyers of Unitech projects' -- 'Wild Flower Country' and 'Anthea Project' — situated in Gurgaon in Haryana.
vandana.ramnani@nw18.com
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