Supreme Court lists Amrapali housing case in January after NBCC says it needs cash immediately

The NBCC told the court that the units required immediate cash flow by way of sale of unused Floor Area Ratio (FAR) in select Amrapali projects in Noida and Greater Noida

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to list the Amrapali housing case in January, after the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) informed it that the construction of 46,000 Amrapali housing units faced a serious cash crunch. The NBCC told the court that the units required immediate cash flow by way of sale of unused Floor Area Ratio (FAR) in select Amrapali projects in Noida and Greater Noida.

An Amrapali housing project in Noida. The NBCC took over the Amrapali projects after the Amrapali Group’s licence under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act was cancelled by the Supreme Court in July 2019, as the erstwhile management of Amrapali had siphoned off the money invested by homebuyers. (HT Archive)

The NBCC took over the Amrapali projects after the Amrapali Group’s licence under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act was cancelled by the Supreme Court in July 2019, as the erstwhile management of Amrapali had siphoned off the money invested by homebuyers.

On Thursday, NBCC counsel Gudipati G Kashyap said, “The issue of FAR is of paramount importance for the completion of projects.” The FAR sale was proposed by the court-appointed receiver and senior advocate R Venkatramani, who is currently the Attorney General for India. However, the same was opposed by the Noida and Greater Noida authority.

The receiver’s note in this regard, submitted to the court last month, was also supported by the consortium of banks represented by advocate Alok Kumar, who said the monetisation of FAR was the only means by which the consortium of seven banks could reclaim their money. “The banks have advanced a loan offer of ₹1,500crore. With great difficulty, a second installment of ₹250 crore was received recently. The note of receiver was filed on November 2. It may be urgently listed,” Kumar said.

The bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi directed the note of the receiver to be converted into an application and listed it for hearing on January 19. “We will take up this application on priority,” the bench said.

Venkatramani also appeared before the bench and said that in the past month, the payments to be made by homebuyers have decreased and wondered if this was because of his new assignment as Attorney General. Even the bench voiced concerns as Venkatramani’s duties had increased under the new role. It said, “Your presence in this matter will be essential.”

However, Venkatramani assured the court, “I will continue in this matter. There are people who are assisting me with generation of funds for the projects.” Last month, Venkatramani had indicated that if the sale of unused FAR does not go through, the construction of projects will suffer and the Uttar Pradesh government may have to take over the management of the project under Uttar Pradesh Rera.

The homebuyers, led by advocate ML Lahoty, informed the court they had no objection to the receiver’s proposal so long as it does not take away the green area and open space meant for residents.