Noida wants economic offences wing to probe accounts of 28 realtors

The move comes after the authority’s CEO conducted a review of 56 housing projects and found that only half of them availed of waivers and discounts under the state policy

The Noida authority on Tuesday said it has decided to refer investigations into the accounts of 28 housing projects, in which promoters have failed to clear their dues and obtain permission for registry, to the economic offences wing (EOW).

The authority had to recover ₹6,400 crore in land cost dues and 28 developers have already agreed to pay about ₹2,400 crore. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The move comes after the authority chief executive officer Lokesh M conducted a review of 56 housing projects and found that only half of them availed of waivers and discounts under the state government policy announced last December and came forward to clear their dues to become eligible for registries.The remaining 28 have not come forward to clear their dues at all, said the CEO.

The authority discussed measures such as attaching the assets of the 28 defaulter builders, as well as cancellation of land allotment of the realty projects, but it did not do so because such measures would make it more tough to recover the land cost dues that are to the tune of ₹4,000 crore, said officials.

“During the review, we realised that if we cancel the allotment and attach the projects, then that would affect the rights of homebuyers and investors. Also, we will fail to recover our dues. Therefore, the authority has decided to refer these 28 cases to the economic offence wing, a state government agency, which will carry out a financial audit and establish how funds collected from homebuyers were used by developers. If the EOW will determine that the funds collected from homebuyers were misused by builders, then further investigation by the enforcement directorate or another suitable agency will be carried out,” said Vandana Tripathi, additional chief executive officer, Noida authority.

The authority wants EOW to check if the realtors siphoned off funds from the realty projects.

“The authority will write to EOW because we want to know where the funds went because realtors have sold apartments to buyers and collected the money. As they have not come forward to clear the land cost dues, it is causing a financial loss to the exchequer,” said Tripathi.

The authority had to recover ₹6,400 crore in land cost dues and 28 developers have already agreed to pay about ₹2,400 crore. The authority is now struggling to recover ₹4,000 crore from the remaining 28 realtors, said officials.

After availing of benefits uner the state government policy, 28 housing projects got permission for registry of 2,528 apartments. Of these, 1,298 apartments are already registered in the name of buyers, and the remaining 1,230 apartments’ registry is in the process of being completed, said officials.