Vandana Ramnani Moneycontrol News
The newly constituted two-member SC bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and M Shantangoudar on Wednesday admitted all petitions pertaining to embattled real estate firm Amrapali. The next date of hearing on the case has been fixed for January 31.
As per the Apex Court directive, Amrapali has also deposited 10 percent of the outstanding amount due with Greater Noida authority. There was confusion over which authority is entitled to collect the dues. Legal sources had pointed out the project Amrapali Silicon City falls under the jurisdiction of Noida Authority, and not Greater Noida.
Legal sources said that as per the claim filed by Noida Authority with the resolution professional, the real estate firm owes it Rs 650 crore.
All requests for interim relief have been declined by the SC.
Meanwhile, the Noida Extension Flat Owners’ Welfare Association (Nefowa), has also moved a petition for a few more projects belonging to the embattled Amrapali Group — Centurian Park, Amrapali Dream Valley and Amrapali Leisure Valley projects that include Verona Heights, Jaura and Adarsh Awas Yojna. Their plea is that buyers be given the status of secured financial creditors and their rights against any future insolvency against the company be secured.
The appeal was admitted in Supreme Court on Wednesday. “We want that the rights of all Amrapali buyers are secured and they get their homes,” said Abhishek Kumar, the president of Nefowa.
These petitions will impact over 1000 homebuyers, he said.
Earlier, the association had filed petitions on behalf of Amrapali buyers in case of Golf Homes, Kingswood, Leisure Park and River View projects with the Supreme Court.
The Amrapali petition was transferred from the bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra to the bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M Shantangoudar this week.
The Supreme Court vide its order dated November 22, 2017 had directed the directors of the realty firm to be present before the court on January 17, 2018. The bench headed by the Chief Justice had also restrained the directors of the company from leaving the country without its permission.
It was hearing the plea filed by Amrapali Silicon City Flat Owners Welfare Society.
It had also directed amicus curiae to open an online portal for homebuyers to register their refund claims. The portal came up on December 29, 2017 and closed on January 14, 2018, providing only a small window to buyers to register their claims. Legal sources say that the amicus may ask the court to extend the deadline.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Khanwilkar and Justice Chandrachud had appointed senior advocate Shekhar Naphade to represent home buyers interest in the committee of creditors (COC) meetings Pawan Shree as the amicus curiae.
In another petition by 100 home buyers, who had invested in three other projects of Amrapali Centurion Park Pvt Ltd at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, the apex court had on October 6 issued notice to the Centre and the housing group.
Buyers through their counsel had pleaded that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order initiating insolvency proceedings against Amrapali Silicon City Pvt Ltd under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 be quashed as its proceedings affected buyers of Greater Noida project Amrapali Centurion Park.
They had claimed the insolvency proceedings against Amrapali Silicon Valley will impact their project as Amrapali Silicon City owns 98.84 percent share in Amrapali Centurian Park.
They had also pleaded that either the home buyers be treated equally with banks and FIs, or the provisions of the bankruptcy code, which give priority to lending institutions, be held ultra vires to the Constitution as being violative of fundamental rights like rights to equality and life.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in September ordered initiation of insolvency proceedings against Amrapali Silicon City, on a plea by Bank of Baroda. The builder had defaulted on an outstanding loan of Rs 56 crore taken from the bank.
NCLT appointed Rajesh Samson of Deloitte Touche Tohmastu India LLP as the interim resolution professional (IRP) in the case of Amrapali Silicon City Pvt Ltd.
Bank of Baroda, the lead bank of the consortium comprising Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Maharashtra who are the other lenders, had signed a term loan agreement with Amrapali Silicon City in February 2012. The consortium of lenders sanctioned a loan of Rs 100 crore to Amrapali Silicon City. Amrapali Silicon City has defaulted on total repayment of Rs 71.15 crore, which comprise Rs 59.38 crore of principal overdue and Rs 11.77 crore of interest and penal interest.
Homebuyers say that they are hopeful that they will get delivery of their units. “We are confident because the amendments to the IBC “explicitly prohibit persons declared as wilful defaulters” or those having a history of syphoning funds from a company, or convicted of fraud, from submitting a resolution plan for companies that are going through the corporate insolvency resolution process. Also, the major stakeholder in this particular project is the Noida Authority itself and it is its liability to complete the projects.
“We also draw hope from the fact that there is saleable floor area ratio or FAR that can be developed to generate Rs 2,500 crore. What this means is that there is an incentive for a third party to come forward and complete the projects. As per estimates, the cost of completing stuck projects is around Rs 1,000 crore,” say buyers.
Vandana.ramnani@nw18.com
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