Mumbai based engineering firm Edifice Engineering has received a letter of intent from realty developer Supertech for demolishing its twin towers in Noida. The realty firm had last year come under the glare of the Supreme Court, which ordered it to raze the twin towers Apex and Ceyane in the Delhi-NCR area. The top court had recently pulled up Supertech for delaying the process of razing its illegal 40-storeyed Emerald Court twin tower project, following which the company made the move. The Supreme Court had last year held that illegal construction has to be dealt with strictly to ensure compliance with the rule of law.
Supertech’s Letter to Edifice Engineering
Supertech on Sunday said it has awarded a letter of intent related to demolition of its illegal twin towers to a Mumbai-based firm. Upon receiving the letter, Edifice Engineering has sought pollution and environment-related clearances from the Noida Authority.
The beleaguered company said the letter of intent was awarded on Saturday to demolition expert firm Edifice Engineering of Mumbai under the supervision of real estate consultant CBRI and the Noida Authority, in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court, news agency PTI said in a report.
“The selection of the demolition agency was done jointly by the Noida Authority as well as the CBRI. As per the analysis by the Noida Authority, the firm is technically sound to carry out the demolition safely,” Supertech chairman R K Arora said in a statement. “The demolition firm has now sought no objection certificates (NOCs) from different agencies with regard to transportation, storage and use of explosives, environment and pollution control agencies, traffic diversion plans etc, all of which are to be provided by the Noida Authority,” said Arora, adding, “On providing the required NOCs by the Noida Authority, the demolition agency will soon chart out schedules for demolition and carry out the same according to directions from the Noida Authority.”
What did the Supreme Court Say About Supertech Twin Towers?
On August 31, the Supreme Court issued an order to Supertech for violating building norms and said that its twin towers under the Emerald Court project should be demolished within three months. The bench observed that there was collusion between Noida officers and the builders in facilitating the construction in violation of norms and the complicity of the Noida authorities was “writ large” in the present case.
On Wednesday, the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna again pulled up Supertech for not complying to its orders. The bench said it will not tolerate it if it finds that the realty firm is finding all kinds of ruses to avoid complying with the orders of the court. “We will not tolerate this. We want the money to be paid by Monday. Don’t do deductions which are not authorised by the orders of the court,” the bench said. “We are going to send your directors to jail now because they are playing truant with the Supreme Court,” it warned, as per a report by PTI.
The Issue
The Supreme Court had on August 31 passed verdict on the petitions filed by home buyers for or against the Allahabad High Court’s 2014 order directing demolition of the twin towers for being in violation of norms. On April 11, 2014 the Allahabad High Court ordered the demolition of the two buildings within four months and the refund of money to apartment buyers. The Supreme Court upheld this order.
What Investors Must Know
Those who had invested in the Supertech Emerald Court Project and bought homes are eligible to get the full refund along with 12 per cent interest by Monday, January 17, that is today. The realty firm had previously not complied with the top court’s order, after which it got warning of facing serious consequences.
The Supreme Court’s warning came after some home buyers, who have filed contempt petitions, told the bench through their counsel that after the August 31, last year order, Supertech Ltd has sent them an email asking them to come and collect the money. “When we go there they say no they will not pay the entire money now but they will pay in installments and want a signature of the home buyers that they will not go to the court against them. Second problem is that they are under-valuing the amount that is to be paid,” said the investors, as per a PTI report. The top court has directed that the entire amount of home buyers be refunded with 12 per cent interest from the time of the booking.
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