Supreme Court scraps HC-ordered CBI probe in Gurugram Ambience Mall case, stays NGT penalty on project

Supreme Court

• Supreme Court halts CBI probe into Gurugram Ambience Island project
• Other legal issues in the dispute will continue in the high court
• Supreme Court stays Rs 10 crore environmental penalty on developer for now

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday brought a major turn in the long-running legal battle surrounding the Ambience Island development in Gurugram, setting aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had directed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the project.

The top court held that the July 2020 direction for a criminal investigation was “unsustainable in law”, effectively halting the CBI inquiry ordered by the high court.

A Bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Sandeep Mehta clarified that while the investigative direction could not stand, other matters linked to the dispute and still pending before the high court would continue unaffected.

The judges made it clear that their ruling was limited in scope and would not derail adjudication of remaining issues arising from the project.

The controversy traces back to nearly 19 acres of land in Nathupur village along the Delhi–Jaipur National Highway in Gurugram. The parcel was originally licensed in the early 1990s for a group housing scheme but was later partly delicensed and permitted to be used for commercial purposes, including the construction of Ambience Mall and other structures.

This shift triggered objections from residents and homebuyers, who alleged that land promised for residential use, open spaces and amenities had been diverted without their consent.

While delivering its ruling, the Supreme Court also stayed the operation of an order passed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposing an environmental compensation of Rs 10 crore on the developer.

The penalty had been levied for alleged construction in a green area at the Ambience Lagoon Apartment complex. However, the Bench observed that proceedings before the green tribunal could revive, depending on how the present judgment plays out and what implications flow from it.

The high court’s now-set-aside verdict had been delivered while allowing a public interest litigation filed in 2015.

In that decision, the court had quashed multiple permissions granted for the commercial complex and directed the state to take follow-up action.

It had also ordered the CBI to complete its probe within six months, after concluding that the developer and government authorities appeared to have acted in collusion.

In strong language, the high court had said the approvals were tainted by grave statutory violations under the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975. It noted that a group housing project initially envisaged on 18.98 acres was later reduced to about 7.9 acres, allegedly in breach of legal norms and the builder-buyer agreement.

The absence of a mandatory layout plan at the stage of licence grant was flagged, with the state government itself conceding that no such plan was available on record.

Describing the entire sequence as a “fraudulent exercise”, the court had said it pointed to a prior meeting of minds between officials and the developer, resulting in undue enrichment at the expense of apartment buyers and the public exchequer.

The Supreme Court, however, took a different view on the propriety of ordering a CBI investigation, holding that such a direction could not be sustained.

While detailed reasons are awaited, the Bench said that its decision would not preclude the continuation of other proceedings before the high court on connected aspects of the dispute.

The case had reached the Supreme Court after the Ambience Group challenged the high court’s July 2020 judgment, including its decision to set aside delicensing and relicensing approvals granted by the Department of Town and Country Planning, Haryana, for Ambience Commercial Tower II.