No resources to complete Amrapali's stalled projects, Noida to SC

The Noida and Greater Noida authorities on Friday told the Supreme Court that they don't have the requisite resources and expertise to complete construction of the stalled projects of the Amrapali Group.

Their submission came two days after the Supreme Court, which on Wednesday, said it may give ownership rights of all the group's projects to the authorities to complete and hand over the flats to the homeowners.

The top court has been contemplating various steps to safeguard the interest of the home buyers, who invested in the Amrapali Group.

On Friday, the Noida and Greater Noida authorities requested a bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice U.U. Lalit to hand over the projects to a reputed builder.

They also requested the court to set up a high-powered monitoring committee which will supervise the work of the builder to complete the projects in a time-bound manner.

After hearing their submission, the bench reserved its order on the question of taking over the management control and appointment of the builder to finish the stalled projects of Amrapali.

Responding to court queries on action against Amrapali Group, the Noida said that they have seven projects of Amrapali which have outstanding dues of nearly Rs 2,000 crores. They have received only Rs 505 crore till now.

The authorities also expressed their inability to take action like cancellation of lease agreements against the group which regularly defaulted on payments.

"Due to the bulk of home buyers, political weight and looking at the consequences which would have followed after cancellation of Amrapali's lease no strong action was taken," Noida's counsel said.

Greater Noida authority told the court that Amrapali Group has five projects under its jurisdiction out of which four are vacant land where no construction has taken place. Amrapali has an outstanding of around Rs 3,400 crore and has paid only Rs 363 crore till now.

--IANS

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