Govt weighs Jaypee assets sale to complete pending housing projects

Buyers were left in the lurch after NCLT admitted bankers' plea of initiating insolvency

The government is exploring if it was legally tenable to sell other assets of debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech to raise money to complete pending housing projects of the company, a top finance ministry official said on Monday.

Hundreds of home buyers had been left in lurch after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted bankers' plea for initiating insolvency proceedings against the realty company for defaulting on a Rs 526-crore loan.

"The government is looking at ways to provide relief to Jaypee Infratech home buyers," the official said.

"We will discuss with the corporate affairs ministry if bankruptcy code provides any legal ground for sale of other assets of companies to fund completion of pending projects."

He said option being explored is possibility of appointing a receiver or state agencies for completion of the incomplete projects, where home buyers had paid money to book flats etc.

"We may have to take the legal way through NCLT, which can pass an order to appoint an authority - may be a state agency - to sell assets of Jayee Infratech and with the money from sale of assets, the pending projects could be completed," he said.

Insolvency proceedings, he said, can continue simultaneously.

Last week, the Allahabad-bench of NCLT admitted insolvency plea of IDBI Bank relating to default of Rs 526 crore loan by Jaypee Infratech.

It appointed Anuj Jain the interim resolution professional (IRP) to carry out the proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Jaypee Infratech, a part of the debt-ridden Jaypee group, has defaulted on Rs 526.11 crore outstanding loan to IDBI. Jaypee Infratech is into road construction and real estate business. It has constructed the Yamuna Expressway, connecting Delhi-Agra.

The biggest incomplete project of Japyee is the mammoth Wish Town project in Noida, on the outskirts of the national capital.

The company has reportedly handed over only 5,500 flats out of the proposed 32,000 flats and 3,000 plots across 800 acres along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. The project has 305 towers, of which 250 are incomplete.

Japyee Infratech is among the 12 big corporate loan defaulters against whom bankruptcy proceedings has been initiated under a new law. Other companies against whom such proceedings has been initiated include Bhushan Steel, Bhushan Steel and Power, Electrosteel Steels and Lanco Infratech, Alok Industries and Jyoti Structures.