The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered to demolish the twin 40-floor residential towers in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida – which house over 900 flats and were built by real estate firm Supertech – for violation of construction by-laws. While, the construction company said it will file a review petition against the judgement.
A two-member bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah slammed the towers’ illegal construction, which they ruled was achieved by collusion and an “unholy nexus” between Noida (New Okhla Industrial Development Area) authorities and the builders.
People who had bought homes in these projects must be refunded in two months, and the cost of demolition, which must take place in three months, is to be borne by Supertech, the court ruled.
“There are repeated instances of collusion between authorities and developers – complicity of Noida authorities… breach of building plans, refusal of authorities to share building plans with residents, violation of building norms… The High Court dealt with these issues and, correctly, concluded collusion between authorities and developers,” Justice Chandrachud said.
The construction company Supertech had defended its construction by insisting there was nothing illegal. Among other arguments made by Vikas Singh, the lawyer representing the company, was that the residents welfare association that filed the case did not exist when construction started.
We have followed the minimum distance criteria, followed the fire safety norms and all other parameters. There was no illegality as canvassed by the home buyers, he had said.
When home buyers asked for a sanctioned plan, you wrote to Supertech asking if you should give the document. It was only after the Allahabad High Court expressly directed you to give that you had given them, the court said.
The court also demanded to know why and how the Noida authorities, in their “eternal wisdom”, permitted large construction projects such as this in a designated ‘green area.
The two towers – Apex and Ceyane – of Supertech’s Emerald Court Project – together have 915 apartments and 21 shops. Of these, initially, 633 flats were booked.
