Fix problems in buildings by May 7 or face consequences: SC to Amrapali

The Supreme Court today directed real estate firm Amrapali Group to repair the escalators, lifts and fire safety equipments in all residential buildings built by it in five days or face the consequences.

The top court's remarks came after some home buyers claimed that the escalators, lifts and fire safety equipments were not in working conditions or have not yet been installed by the realtor.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit said the realty firm should deploy as many experts or engineers required to ramp up the facilities for the home buyers by May 7.

"The firm should fix the problems and install the fire safety equipments by next Monday or the promoters from the company may face serious consequences. They will not be spared," the bench said.

The court was informed by some home buyers that some three weeks back a fire incident had taken place in a residential apartment built by the firm.

It asked the home buyers to reply to the affidavit filed by Amrapali and the co-developer Galaxy Group which is willing to take its three projects for completion and posted the matter for further hearing on May 8.

On April 25, the apex court had said it would like to be assured of the financial standing and credentials of a company which is willing to take over some of the projects of Amrapali Group, observing that the home buyers "cannot be just thrown to a frying pan".

It had asked the Noida-based Galaxy Group, which is willing to complete the three projects of Amrapali, to furnish its financial standing, its track record and an undertaking for timely completion of the projects.

The court was informed that the Galaxy Group have proposed to take three projects of the company--Saphire-I, Saphire-II and Amrapali Leisure Park at Greater Noida.

In a bid to ascertain whether there was any "siphoning" of funds, the top court had earlier asked the group to provide details of the money it had collected from the homebuyers and how much it had invested in its housing projects.

The Amrapali Group had then given the details of its ongoing housing projects, stages of work and the likely time to complete construction.

The company, which is facing insolvency proceedings initiated by the creditor bank for not repaying the loans, had earlier told the top court in an affidavit that it was not in a position to complete the projects and hand over possession of flats to over 42,000 home-buyers in a time-bound manner.