Cancelled Unitech land to be re-auctioned, says Noida authority

NOIDA: After cancelling the allotment of Unitech’s housing land, the Noida authority Thursday said it has decided to re-auction this land, along with the partly

NOIDA: After cancelling the allotment of Unitech’s housing land, the Noida authority Thursday said it has decided to re-auction this land, along with the partly constructed 17 housing towers, to recover its revenue.

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Unitech was allotted about two lakh square metres of group housing land in Sector 113 on April 18, 2007. The builder had partly constructed 17 residential towers on this land without any requisite sanctions from the authority. After the cancellation of allotment, the fate of flat buyers is uncertain as almost 80% of flats in this project are already sold out, officials said.

The authority had cancelled the allotment after Unitech failed to pay ₹1,203.45 crore land dues, despite repeated notices.

“We have started the process of taking over physical possession of the plot. We will re-auction it along with the built-up area. The builder has carried out illegal construction without map approval. This had to be dealt with severely,” Ritu Maheshwari, chief executive officer, Noida authority, said. The Unitech also sold out some parts of the land to two private builders in violation of rules, officials said.

After the allotment to Unitech on April 18, 2007, the registry of the plot, was completed on March 27, 2008. Unitech had given an application for layout sanctions for the project on October 1, 2010. However, as there were several anomalies that needed to be sorted out, the Noida authority’s town planning department had asked the builder to address all issues and complete the formalities, vide a letter dated December 2, 2010. But Unitech did not take sanction for the layout plan even then and had built the residential towers illegally, said officials.

The realty firm, in 2016, had informed the authority that it had already sold 80% of a total of 1,792 flats in the under-construction project. The authority officials said they are yet to hear from flat buyers as nobody has so far filed any application about this project.

“Buyers cannot come at this stage. If any buyer has already made an investment, it will be adjusted by the new stakeholder, who may take over the project via a re-auctioning,” said Maheshwari.

The authority has taken a tough stand against defaulter builders, officials said. This is the first time that land allotted for a housing project has been cancelled and is about to be re-auctioned by the authority, officials said.

“We are acting against all violations on a case-to-case basis,” Maheshwari said.

Flat buyers, meanwhile, are worried about their investments.

“We had paid ₹40 lakh for a 3BHK flat at the Sector 113 project in 2010, with the hope that it will be delivered by 2012. But after so many years, we are unsure about what will happen next. The Noida authority must protect our interests,” Rajesh Kumar, a buyer, said.

Unitech management did not reply to messages and calls seeking its comment on the issue.