During three days of hearing on Amrapali case, the Supreme Court has made sharp comments against the Amrapali Group, Noida Authority and banks. Following which, there is a hope among home buyers that there will be a decision in favour of them and they will finally be able to get their dream homes.
After the marathon hearing, the court has adjourned the hearing till May 8. Flat buyers waiting for their dream homes for last several years were happy that the court has held banks and Noida Authority responsible along with Amrapali Group.
“All facts presented by lawyers representing the home buyers were accepted. Now, banks or the Noida Authority who were passing bucks on each others have been held equally responsible for cheating homebuyers. We are hopeful that the court will come up with a concrete decision and will provide relief for home buyers,” said Joginder Singh, a home buyer in Amrapali Group project.
The hopes of home buyers are high as it was the first time in last two years that the apex court held a marathon hearing. However, they have to wait for another round of hearing.
“No doubt, we are having high hopes after this hearing but we are little disappointed on some points also. Many new facts of frauds have cropped up. We are also disappoined that after eight years of protests on roads, the court is yet to give judgment. The court will definitely come up with its judgment after hearing arguments from all sides and checking the facts presented before it. But the buyers are also getting restless to get their flats. We are hopeful that buyers' fate will be decided soon,” said KK Kaushal, another home buyer.
During the hearing, the top court said that the Amrapali Group has committed a first degree crime by cheating thousands of home buyers and the culprits will be booked and prosecuted irrespective of how powerful they are.
A bench of justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit said that the Amrapali Group has cheated buyers, bankers and authority.
Earlier, the court-appointed forensic auditors had informed the court that Amrapali Group had diverted Rs 3,500 crore of buyers money. He said that the promoters and director has used the funds for building their own empires and they had not used the money in business.
The apex court has said to Delhi Police that they can take a copy of this report and carry out investigation. Delhi Police is is currently investigating a criminal case.
The bench said, “We are bound to believe in the report of the forensic auditors as your conduct is dubious. You have yourself admitted in the affidavit that Rs 2,990 crore of home buyers money was diverted. Now, you are saying that there was no diversion.”
In their defense, the Amrapali Group said that they had received Rs 11,057 crore from home buyers and they developed five projects in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad.
The bench replied, “Your fate is written on the wall. We are not inclined to hear your bona fide claims looking at your dubious conduct.”
Moreover, the bench also scolded Bank of Baroda and other lenders who have given big loans to the Amrapali Group and failed to control the diversion of funds.
The top court also emphasised on the need to create a mechanism to protect the interest of the buyers, bank and Noida Authority. They questioned that how can the promoters claim ownership when they have not invested a penny.
