“Either you sink or die, we are not concerned. You will have to pay back the money to home buyers. We are least bothered about the financial status.”

This was the tough message that was handed out to real estate developer Supertech by the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday as it heard a case involving the company’s Emerald Court project in Noida.

The bench consisting of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel was dismissive of the company’s claims that it had no funds as it had invested the money in the construction of the project. However, the SC also dismissed claims by the home buyers seeking a complete refund of the invested amount. Instead, it directed the builder to pay 10% on the principal amount to the buyers starting January of 2015, and also directed the company to clear any arrears within 4 weeks.

During the last hearing the SC had directed NBCC to check if the distance between the two towers – Apex and Ceyane, had been built in line with building norms and according to the sanctioned plans. However, the NBCC has asked for 5 more weeks to complete its report.

Supertech has been directed to submit a detailed chart of money paid to the home buyers. The next hearing on the case will take place on September 25th.

As per data collated by real estate research agencies, Supertech has around 27 projects in Delhi/NCR which are running behind schedule. That is a little over 35,000 units with the average delays in these projects ranging from 2 to 3 years.

The Property Team