Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority passed a proposal to sell land belonging to Jaypee Group to pay off homebuyers and recover its own dues from the real estate group.
The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) in its board meeting on Monday approved a proposal to sell Jaypee Group’s land to refund homebuyers’ money and recover the dues of Rs 4,342 crore.
The authority also warned other builders to fulfil the promises or get ready to face the music.
“With the allottee companies going for insolvency, there’s no option left to ensure the safety of homebuyers’ and Yamuna Authority's money,” said Dr Prabhat Kumar, chairman of YEIDA. “We have decided to sell Jaypee land to recover the dues. We have requested the UP government to appoint an agency to calculate how much land should be auctioned for this recovery.”
The buyers have been protesting against the government and the Jaypee Group for some time now. Subsequently, YEIDA CEO Arun Vir Singh assured homebuyers in writing that either the Jaypee Group would start refunding the money by October this year or face the auction of its land.
“We have approved a proposal that allows us to sell the Jaypee Group’s land to raise Rs 300 crore and distribute this among homebuyers. Our board has approved this proposal, and now it will go to the UP government for approval,” said CEO Singh.
Jaypee Group had in 2013 launched five housing projects - Buddha Circuit I and II, Aman III, Nature View and Udaan. The builder had sold flats and plots to 3,087 homebuyers. The group had also collected about Rs 300 crore from these sales. But in 2016, Jaypee scrapped the five projects without even having started any construction on the sites, thereby triggering panic among homebuyers.
YEIDA has been struggling to recover its Rs 4,342 crore land dues from Jaypee Group - Rs 1,453 crore for a special economic zone land, and Rs 2,889 crore for LFD, or land for development, dues. The LFD refers to the land the government allotted to Jaypee for the construction of the 165-km-long Yamuna Expressway connecting Greater Noida and Agra.
