Supreme Court order on Jaypee insolvency revives hope among Noida homebuyers
After the SC order, homebuyers in other builders’ projects such as Amrapali Group that is also facing insolvency case for its Silicon City project, are also hopeful of getting either refund or flats.
The Supreme Court order on Jaypee Group’s insolvency case has revived hope of getting flats or refund among homebuyers in Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway areas.
After the SC order, homebuyers in other builders’ projects such as Amrapali Group that is also facing insolvency case for its Silicon City project, are also hopeful of getting either refund or flats.
“SC order has revived hope among homebuyers because the order is very positive for us. We did not imagine SC will be so stern against a builder. Now we are planning to hire the same lawyer representing the Jaypee Group buyers. We have already spoken with him. We want the SC to club our case with the Jaypee Group’s buyers if possible so that our investment is also safe,” said Ratnesh Rahul, a buyer of Amrapali Silicon City project located in Sector 76.
The Supreme Court on Monday directed holding companies of Jaypee Infratech to deposit Rs 2,000 crore by October 27 in the latest development in an ongoing suit where homebuyers have challenged the company’s move to declare itself bankrupt. Last week, the apex court had stayed insolvency proceedings against Jaypee Infratech. More than 30,000 buyers of Jaypee Infratech in Noida and Yamuna Expressway areas are worried that the insolvency proceedings would leave them in a lurch and without recourse to get either a house or compensation from the company.
The Jaypee Group homebuyers have welcomed the Court’s order and are now “sure that their investment is safe”.
“It is a very good order by the SC with an aim to protect buyers’ investment. The SC order has fixed liability on the builder, who was trying to fool homebuyers by declaring itself as bankrupt in one company _ Jaypee Infratech and running another company _ Jaypee Associates without any financial hurdle. The order of depositing Rs 2,000 crore by October 27 has given hope to buyers that their investment is safe now,” said SK Nagrath, president of Jaypee Aman buyers association.
Homebuyers in housing projects of other builders have also hailed the SC order.
“It is a very positive step and it will bring a lot of hope to buyers, who are not getting any help from the governments in state and center. The SC order is also landmark because buyers’ interest was not being protected by the insolvency and bankruptcy code-2016 as they were not into the category of financial creditors unlike banks, who loaned money to builder,” said B Kumar, a buyer of PAN Oasis project.
Homebuyers questioned that why the parliament did not think of protecting homebuyers’ interest while passing bankruptcy code-2016.
“We invested our money into Amrapali Silicon City in 2010. And the banks made investment of Rs 56 crore in Silicon City in 2013. The code protects banks’ investment as they are secured creditors. But a homebuyer did not find any mention in this code. Why? Now we hope that the SC will amend it for protection of interest of other buyers in future,” said Ratnesh Rahul, a chartered accountant.
Greater Noida has 203 housing projects out of which 82 are critical in nature and builders owe Rs7,200 crore debt to pay to the government. The Noida authority in around 90 housing projects needs to recover Rs10,215 crore land dues to from the builders. The Yamuna authority struggles to recover around Rs3,000 crore from 13 builders. In three cities thousands of homebuyers suffer as the builders has delayed housing projects for four to eight years.
