INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Supreme Court bench posted the matter for further hearing on May 2
credentials of a company which is willing to take over some of the projects of embattled Amrapali Group, observing that the home buyers
"cannot be just thrown to a frying pan".The top court asked Noida-based Galaxy Group, which is willing to complete the three projects of
Amrapali, to furnish its financial standing, its track record and an undertaking for timely completion of the projects."Home buyers cannot
be just thrown to a frying fan
The flat buyers should get their dues
We would like to know the profile of the individuals associated with the company which is willing to take over the projects
The idea is to enable them wriggle out of the difficult situation
We want to be doubly assured," a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit said.The bench said in order to ensure that the flat buyers get
their dues, it had asked the Amrapali Group to furnish the business plan for completion of the pending projects."We want to know the
financial standing of the company which proposes to take over the projects
The track record of the promoters, financers and investors who are in the company
The financial work done by the group and their track record of adhering to the time line for completion of the projects," it said.The bench
said the Galaxy Group has to furnish an undertaking that it will complete the projects in the set deadline.Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar,
appearing for the Amrapali Group, said the Galaxy Group have proposed to take three projects of the company--Saphire-I, Saphire-II and
Amrapali Leisure Park at Greater Noida.He said that in Saphire-I project only 32 flats remain to be completed and 1001 flats have been
handed over to the home buyers till now."As far as Saphire-II project is concerned, 550 flats are to be completed and till now 758 had been
In Leisure Park project which is the bigger one, 2993 units are to be completed and work is in progress in tower E-1 and E-2," he said.Mr
Kumar said the Galaxy Group which has done work worth Rs 3467 crore till now has shown interest to complete these three pending projects of
Group said they were willing to take over the projects and complete them, only if the home buyers have no objection to it."Let us be very
clear, if a co-developer has to take over the projects, then it has to submit an affidavit and clarify that they are not facing similar
difficult situation in their pending projects and adhering to the time line for completion of projects
Such individual or company, who is on the other side of the fence, will not be selected," the bench said.Mr Kumar informed the court that
for Saphire-I and II, around Rs 55 crore will be needed for completing the remaining flats which according to the Amrapali Group can be
completed from 3 to 15 months period.The bench then said that it would ask the co-developer to first invest money and then sell the flats
and get money, as it does not want to put additional burden on the home buyers as of now.Counsel for Galaxy Group said it was ready to
complete the project but it would be appropriate if the court permits that funds be given in installments as the projects would require huge
investments.The bench said it needed to work out the modalities to supervise the projects but would not allow the money of one project to be
transfered to other projects
"It is high time that we pass an order prohibiting transferring the funds collected for one project diverted to some other projects," it
said.The bench posted the matter for further hearing on May 2.In a bid to ascertain whether there was any "siphoning" of funds, the top
court had earlier asked the group to provide details of the money it had collected from the homebuyers and how much it had invested in its
housing projects.The Amrapali Group had then given the details of its ongoing housing projects, stages of work and the likely time to
complete construction.The company, which is facing insolvency proceedings initiated by the creditor bank for not repaying the loans, had
earlier told the top court in an affidavit that it was not in a position to complete the projects and hand over possession of flats to over
42,000 home-buyers in a time-bound manner.
