Gururgam local court partially freezes accounts of Godrej Air project

Anish Nanda, sales head, Orris Infrastructure, said they submitted that Godrej took a very costly loan from its own non-banking finance company in order to show huge costs, which is unjust. “We will fight in the court against this as till date, we have received only ₹25 crore for land which was valued at around ₹100 crore in 2019,” he said

A Gurugram local court on Thursday froze the bank account of Godrej Air project in Sector 85, after a partner in the project, Orris Infrastructure, approached the court alleging that it was being denied the profits. The project was launched in 2019 with around 500 flats and its delivery is slated to be early next year.

An advertisement for Godrej Air condominium in Sector 85 in 2019. (HT Archive)

The Gururgam local court, on the petition of Orris Infrastructure, froze the account partially on Thursday, observing, “It is directed that till next date of hearing, the bank accounts in question shall remain freezed to the extent of 12.6% i.e. share of the petitioner.”

The next date of hearing is scheduled on January 31.

Anish Nanda, sales head, Orris Infrastructure, said they had given 10.9 acre land to Godrej for this project in 2019, and it was decided that they will get 12.6% share in flats plus profit. “The value of our land was around ₹100crore at that time and now it will be around ₹150crore. We were promised that ₹175crore will come as our profit on successful completion of the project. But now, our partner has turned around and says the project has not made much profit due to increased cost of inputs and high rate of loan,” he said.

Nanda said they have approached the court and submitted that Godrej took a very costly loan from its own non-banking finance company in order to show huge costs, which is unjust. “We will fight in the court against this as till date, we have received only ₹25 crore for land which was valued at around ₹100 crore in 2019,” he said.

A spokesperson for Godrej Properties limited, when asked about the matter, said, “We have received an order dated 15.12.2022 passed by the Learned Additional District Judge – cum Presiding Judge of the Exclusive Commercial Court at Gurugram under a petition filed under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act by Orris Infrastructure Private Limited. Orris is our Joint Venture Partner in our project Godrej Air situated at Sector 85, Gurugram. We have not been served a notice in this case, instead an ex-parte order has been granted by the court without giving us an opportunity to present our case. The accounts that have been frozen are only to the extent of 12.6% i.e. the share of Orris in the project. We are discussing the future course of action within the legal framework and will appropriately file our response before the court. Since the matter is sub-judice, we will not be able to comment any further.”