The Supreme Court has deregistered the Amrapali Group, one of the country’s largest realtors, for fraud and directed the state-run National Building Construction Corporation to complete the projects as well as hand them over to homebuyers.
The order, which is expected to benefit 48,000 homebuyers, is considered the first of its kind.
The court indicted officials of Noida and Greater Noida, saying they acted “clearly in collusion” with builders and overlooked the interest of homebuyers.
The court also took a critical view of huge loans extended by various banks to the defaulting builders. Reuters identified the lenders that were criticised as the Bank of Baroda and Corporation Bank.
The builders have been accused of misappropriating loans and diverting funds to activities such as filmmaking. Veteran advocate M.L. Lahoty, who represented most of the homebuyers, told The Telegraph that around Rs 9,000 crore was diverted by the group.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U.U. Lalit invoked the public trust doctrine, which mandates the State and its functionaries to take affirmative action for effective management and empowers citizens to question their ineffectiveness.
The Supreme Court concluded that the Amrapali Group had indulged in “sham transactions” with Rhiti Sports Management, a company that “manages celebrities” such as M.S. Dhoni and several other cricketers.
The following are the highlights of the court order:
- The registration of the Amrapali Group of Companies under RERA (Real Estate Regulation Development Act) shall stand cancelled.
- Lease deeds granted to Amrapali in Noida and Greater Noida are cancelled.
- Noida and Greater Noida authorities and banks cannot recover their dues cleared by selling the flats of the homebuyers or the land leased out. Other attached properties can be sold for dues.
- NBCC will complete the projects and hand over possession to the buyers.
- The homebuyers should deposit the outstanding amount within three months from Tuesday in an account opened in the Supreme Court branch of UCO Bank.
- The Enforcement Directorate and other agencies should investigate charges of multiple violations and fix responsibility.
- The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India should initiate disciplinary action against Anil Mittal, CA, for his conduct.
- The proceedings should be concluded within six months.
The court referred to a payment of Rs 6.52 crore to Rhiti Sports Management on the basis of some agreements.
The court added that the “agreements have just been made for payment of amounts to Rhiti Sports Management (and) are sham agreements, made just for making payments to Rhiti Sports Management. We feel that homebuyers’ money has been diverted illegally and wrongly to Rhiti Sports Management and should be recovered from them”.
Contacted, Dhoni’s business manager Arun Pandey told The Telegraph: “We have lodged a complaint against the Amrapali Group.”