SC on Wednesday warned homebuyers that their unwillingness to pay remaining dues of their flats may lead to binding up of stalled projects due to financial crunch.
After the Supreme Court asked home buyers to deposit their outstanding money required to start construction on the stalled Amrapali projects, a section of home buyers has decided to file an interlocutory application (IA) to the court for seeking its permission to submit their views ahead of the judgement.
A bench while hearing the matter on Wednesday warned home buyers that their unwillingness to pay remaining dues of their flats may lead to binding up of stalled projects due to financial crunch.
The home buyers are likely to argue that as per the builder-buyer agreement, the plan of payment was linked to the construction.
One of the home buyers, Ritesh Singh said, “As per the builder-buyer agreement, the buyer has to pay depending on the basis of the process on construction work of the project. It means the buyers would pay their dues step-by-step depending on the construction. Now, the reports suggested that home buyers have to pay outstanding (remaining dues) dues at one time. It would create a lot of financial burden on home buyers.”
The homebuyers, however, accepted that they have to pay their outstanding dues but they also want the money to be recovered from various stakeholders, including Amrapali group directors, unsold and seized properties of Amrapali group.
Homebuyers were of the view that they have had already suffered a lot, financially and mentally, after paying a huge amount to the builder. Now adding more to the existing pressure will be unjustified.
One such argument from a home buyer (Amrapali Leisure Park) has already been presented before the court on Wednesday who said, “Till now nothing has been done on the ground and it would be unfair if I am asked to pay the (complete) amount.”
On this submission, the Court said, “If you don’t want to pay money, then we will ask you to go home. If you want the construction to come up, then the homebuyers will have to pay the outstanding money. Be ready to deposit the outstanding amount.”
“We are bound to pay our outstanding dues but we need some more clarity on the matter. Putting more pressure on homebuyers is unjustified as they have already suffered a lot in paying to bank loans, builder and for rented accommodation etc,” said KK Kaushal, another homebuyer of Amrapali group.
“We are not opposing the Court’s directive to pay the outstanding amount but a kind of fear has created in homebuyers' mind that if they pay their remaining dues and the projects did not resume due to financial crisis, then what will happen? Therefore, we want some more clarity on it,” he added.
The Court has fixed October 4 for next hearing and has asked banks, court-appointed auditors (Pawan Aggrawal and Ravi Bhatia), the authorities (Noida and Greater Noida) and NBCC to be present in the court.
Mihir Kumar, advocate representing for a section of Amrapali homebuyers said, “In the next hearing, the court is likely to ask for NBCC’s plan to complete all stalled projects. The court is likely to clear the tripartite agreement, as the current builder-buyer agreement is being considered as a mere piece of paper.”
“The new agreement (tripartite) would involve, Buyer-Authority and court-appointed receiver. We are hopeful that some more clarity would come in the next hearing,” he added.
