NBCC submits plan to complete unfinished projects of debt-laden Unitech

Court seeks homebuyers', Unitech's response over plan, to next hear the matter on August 9

State-owned NBCC India on Monday submitted a proposal to the Supreme Court (SC) to complete the unfinished projects of debt-laden real estate company Unitech, and suggested that a three-member panel, led by a retired judge, could monitor the progress of the work. A two-judge Bench, led by Justice D Y Chandrachud, sought the homebuyers’ and Unitech’s response to NBCC’s plan to complete the unfinished projects. The details of the plan will be uploaded on a website for homebuyers, the top court said. The matter will be next heard on August 9.

During the last hearing on July 5, the two-judge Bench had asked the Centre to come up with a plan for constructing the stalled projects of Unitech within 10 days. Though Unitech had then resisted the idea and submitted that if it was allowed another three years, it could finish all the projects, the proposal, however, was rejected by the court.

“The homebuyers who are before us invested their money around 12 years ago and now you are proposing another three years for completing the projects. Question is for how long do these homebuyers wait,” the bench had then said.

Earlier on May 9, the apex court had ordered withdrawal of all facilities given to Unitech promoters Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra, who have been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail since August 2017 for allegedly siphoning off the homebuyers’ money. The court said the Chandra brothers should be treated like ordinary prisoners in accordance with the prison manual.

The Chandras had been allowed a working space to try and negotiate with the buyers and investors to raise money and complete the projects. The jail authorities had also been directed by the court to allow Sanjay Chandra’s meetings with his company officials and lawyers so that he could raise money against the unencumbered assets of his company. However, irked by the company’s non-cooperation with the court-appointed forensic auditors, the SC had ordered withdrawal of all these facilities.