Noida requests state govt to help recover land cost dues

There are multiple cases in which the plot allottees have got relief from principal secretary of the industries department who ”overturned” the decisions taken by the Noida authority

The Noida authority has written to the Uttar Pradesh government requesting the state government to help them recover land cost dues from allottees including realtors, IT plot owners and others.

According to authority sources, there are at least 20 adverse government rulings that have caused a huge financial loss to Noida. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The authority officials said when they try to recover the dues through recovery notices, the state government gives relief to realtors thus defeating their efforts.

There are multiple cases in which the plot allottees have got relief from principal secretary of the industries department who ”overturned” the decisions taken by the Noida authority to recover their financial dues against allotted plots.

“We have urged the government to reconsider its decisions on revision petitions filed by allottees from sectors such as industrial, commercial, group housing, and institutional. We made the request in view of multiple cases in which the state government overturned our decision to issue recovery notices to collect financial dues from the allottees,” said Lokesh M, chief executive officer, Noida authority.

According to authority sources, there are at least 20 adverse government rulings that have caused a huge financial loss to Noida.

For example, the industries department gave a waiver of ₹63 crore to a developer of a commercial tower in Sector 16A. The waiver was for the period from 2013 to 2015 when, due to the National Green Tribunal order banning the construction in a 10km radius of the Okhla bird sanctuary, construction was disrupted at several sites, including the one in Sector 16A, said officials. The Noida authority, through a letter, has requested the state government to reconsider its decision.

Noida officials said there are several cases where the authority gave additional time to the allottees to complete the construction in industrial plots from 2022 to 2024 and levied a fee for the extension period. But the state government overturned the decision, allowing additional time for free thereby causing a revenue loss to the authority.

The authority has already suffered a revenue loss of ₹19 crore in the institutional sector alone, as IT plot allottees received relief from the state government during the recovery process, said officials.

In several instances, courts denied relief to allottees, yet they later succeeded in obtaining favourable orders by filing revision petitions with the state government against the authority’s decisions.

“The allottees have filed revision petitions challenging decisions passed by the authority under Section 41(3) of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973, along with Section 12 of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act, 1976. After reviewing government orders in cases related to group housing, commercial, industrial, and institutional properties, we have decided to request the government to reconsider these cases, keeping the authority’s financial interests in mind,” said Lokesh M.

“In recent times, it has become common for allottees to approach the government and secure relief, causing substantial revenue losses to the authority. To discourage this practice, we have written to the state government,” said the CEO, without disclosing the extent of the revenue loss.