The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the auction of Amrapali Group’s 16 properties across the nation to raise money for completion of pending projects. It has also ordered the forensic audit of the Amrapali Group and the name of auditor will be declared soon.
The apex court asked the developer, the directors of the company to coordinate with the auditor otherwise the court will seal their properties.
The next date of hearing is September 12.
The court ordered Anil Sharma, CMD of Amrapali Group, to submit an affidavit explaining how the worth of their properties came down from Rs 850 crore to Rs 67 crore.
“When Anil Sharma was participating in the Bihar Election, he showed his property’s value at Rs 850 crore and now he has shown his property value at Rs 67 crore,” KK Kaushal, an Amrapali buyer said.
The court ordered all the directors to submit one more affidavit mentioning that they don’t have any other properties apart from what has already been shown in their affidavit which was submitted in court. “The court asked for the forensic audit of accounts of all entities including directors, their wives and children,” the buyers said.
As the National Buildings Construction Corporation India Ltd (NBCC) has given a proposal for completion of 15 residential projects having 46,575 flats at an estimated cost of Rs 8,500 crores in 6-36 months, a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit had said the court will try to reach the persons responsible for the fraud.
Abhishek Kumar, President of Noida Extension Flats Owner Association (NEFOWA), is happy with the decision of the court. The order of the forensic audit is a very positive step as this will open up the heap of worms builder is hiding. “The case is going in a good direction and the result will come in favour of the buyers,” Kumar said.
Kumar said that the case is near its completion and hoped that the construction work of the pending projects will be started in the next 3 months. The court also asked the Noida and Greater Noida Authority to give details of dues and charges for the additional saleable area in Amrapali projects.
Amrapali Group is yet to deliver around 42,000 flats in 10 housing projects in Gautam Budh Nagar.
Last year, Bank of Baroda had filed an insolvency petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) after Amrapali failed to repay a loan of Rs 56 crore. The move caused panic among homebuyers as according to them, their investment would not be protected under the insolvency and bankruptcy code as NCLT would give preference to banks before buyers.
In September 2017, a group of homebuyers from Noida had filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking protection of their investments.
In January this year, buyers of five other housing projects which were stuck in Greater Noida also filed similar pleas. The Apex court clubbed all the pleas and started the hearing.
