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The Supreme Court today refused to include Noida Based La Residentia under the umbrella of Amrapali projects which were made over to the NBCC.

Bench of Justice UU Lalit and Justice Ashok Bhushan observed, “An important aspect of the matter is that unlike all the other projects of the Amrapali Group which were made over to the NBCC, the development with respect to the instant project has always been an on-going process. In all the other projects of the Amrapali Group, either there was no development right from the inception or even if some development had been initiated, the same was completely at a standstill when the matters were taken up for consideration by this Court.”

“It would not be just and proper to hand over the construction to NBCC. Hence we dont recall our 2019 orders or revisit the issue of whether the company is part of Amrapali Group.”, the Court further said. 

To to secure the amounts receivable by the Amrapali Group of Companies through the instant project, the Court thereafter passed the following directions: 

a) The Company shall be entitled to continue with the construction and development of the instant project;

b) 632 flats which were subject matter of Orders dated 23.07.2019 and 14.10.2019 shall be allowed to be sold by the Company to the interested persons or parties at a fair price or value, provided :-

a) The Company shall be entitled to continue with the construction and development of the instant project;

b) 632 flats which were subject matter of Orders dated 23.07.2019 and 14.10.2019 shall be allowed to be sold by the Company to the interested persons or parties at a fair price or value, provided :-

• i)  all the concerned transactions including the execution of appropriate documents or deeds are countersigned by the Court Receiver or his nominee;
• ii)  The price or value at which said flats are to be sold is certified by the Court Receiver to be fair and appropriate.
• iii)  all the amounts received by way of such transactions of sale are credited to a separate account completely under the control of the Receiver and/or his nominee;
• iv)  the cost of construction with respect to those 632 flats, upon due certification by the Chartered Accountants of the Company and to the satisfaction of the Receiver, shall be made over to the Company; and
• v)  it shall however be open to the Receiver to give such advances towards the construction of these 632 flats from and out of the amounts deposited in the account as specified hereinabove, depending upon the stage and progress of construction.

c) The injunction with respect said 632 flats, as directed in the Orders dated 23.07.2019 and 14.10.2019, shall stand modified to the extent indicated hereinabove.

d) The difference between the amounts received from the concerned flat buyers for purchase of said 632 flats and the expenditure incurred on cost of construction shall finally be credited to the general account maintained for the benefit of the flat buyers of the Amrapali Group of Companies.

The bench of Arun Mishra and UU Lalit, JJ in 2019 had cancelled the registration of Amrapali Group of Companies under RERA for defrauding homebuyers. The Court also cancelled the various lease deeds granted in favour of Amrapali Group of Companies by Noida and Greater Noida Authorities for projects in question.

“Because of their failure to fulfil the obligations towards the buyers and the serious kind of fraud which has been played by them upon the home buyers, the registration of Amrapali group of companies under the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, 2016 deserves to be cancelled.”, the Court had said.

The Court will continue hearing the matter by a fresh bench from July 4, 2021 since Justice Ashok Bhushan would demit office on July 3, 2021.

Case Title: Bikram Chatterjee v. Union of India