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Punjab RERA comes to aid of buyers left in lurch by GBP Group
Punjab RERA asks buyers to form project-wise associations that will be handed over completion of the projects under the RERA Act
Coming to the rescue of thousands of investors left in the lurch by the management of realty firm GBP Group, the Punjab Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has assured to hand over the projects to the respective buyer associations for completion.
Three directors of the realty firm – Satish Gupta, Raman Gupta, and Pardeep Gupta – had left the country in September 2021, leaving all their offices in and around Mohali locked, and dashing the hopes of around 2,500 allottees who have invested over ₹1,500 crore in the group’s 18 commercial and residential projects in Mohali.
On Friday, after the Homebuyers and Investors Association for GBP met the Punjab RERA chairman Navreet Singh Kang in Chandigarh, they were told to submit applications project wise and also form respective associations.
“Once these steps are complete, RERA will first revoke the builder’s registration under Section 7 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, and then hand over the projects to the buyers, who will themselves complete the construction work under the Act’s Section 8. The buyers have been told to form separate associations of all projects, so that these can be dealt with individually,” a senior officer of RERA, not wishing to be named, said.
Among the firm’s ongoing projects in Mohali, Camelia, offering both residential and commercial units, in Kharar, and GBP Centrum (commercial) in Zirakpur have been under construction since 2016.
At two other projects – Athens (residential and commercial) and Aeroze (residential) – both on the Airport road, construction has remained stalled for years, and at a residential colony in New Chandigarh, where plots have been sold, construction has not even begun.
Ashu Kumar, president of Home Buyers’ and Investors’ Welfare Association of GBP said, “We now have a ray of hope that RERA will help us in saving our hard-earned money.”
Since before its directors’ escape, complaints against GBP Group have been pouring in from investors across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and even abroad.
As of April, the police had received as many as 158 complaints and registered around 50 cases against the three directors. The police are also working on requesting Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice to arrest the accused and extradite them from Dubai, where they are said to have secured a business visa till September 19, 2024.
