UP govt asks Noida, Greater Noida to cancel allotments of realtors who still have land dues

The UP government had given 60 days to realtors to either avail of the rebate, pay dues and obtain permission for registry or face cancellation of allotment

Uttar Pradesh’s additional chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh has directed the Noida, Greater Noida and the Yamuna Expressway authorities to start cancelling allotments made to realtors. who have not opted for a recently notified state scheme meant to revive stuck housing projects that allows realtors to pay their dues in instalments after availing of waivers, and thereby resolve the longstanding issues of homebuyers.

NThe policy was meant to help a large section of homebuyers in Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna expressway areas, where an estimated 240,000 to 350,000 housing units are currently lying stalled owing to several reasons. (HT Archive)

The state government had given 60 days to realtors to either avail of the rebate, pay dues and obtain permission for registry or face cancellation of allotment. The direction to cancel allotments has come after the 60-day period ended.

“As per the scheme notified in December 2023, realtors have to pay 25% of total dues against a project in 60 days and rest in instalments. This scheme was meant to enable buyers to get registry done of their housing units. If the realtors fail to avail of the scheme and pay their dues, then authorities will have to cancel the allotments, attach the properties of realtors and take other measures for recovering the dues,” said Manoj Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary, Uttar Pradesh, and also the industrial and infrastructure development department of Uttar Pradesh, in a letter sent to three industrial bodies on Monday.

State chief minister Yogi Adityanath, under his government’s campaign to address homebuyers’ plight, approved a “stalled legacy housing project” on December 21, 2023, offering waivers on interest and penalties, the officials said.

The government said it would give permission to execute property registrations if the developer concerned clears 25% of dues, which in itself was a much shaved off amount, given that the government also offered waivers on penal interest for the period between April 2020 and March 2023.

The policy was meant to help a large section of homebuyers in Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna expressway areas, where an estimated 240,000 to 350,000 housing units are currently lying stalled owing to several reasons.

The Noida authority said it has given permission for registry to a total of 1,400 apartments as 16 of 57 stalled housing projects have paid their financial dues.

In Noida a total of 42 realtors agreed to pay dues under the scheme but only 16 paid the dues amounting to ₹115 crore and the authority is pursuing others to make them pay and obtain permission for registry.

In Greater Noida, a total of 40 of 97 realtors gave consent to pay dues to obtain permission for registry. But only 16 realtors have paid ₹73 crore and obtained permission for 1,300 units so far. In Yamuna Expressway area, only two of nine realtors have paid amounting to ₹90 crore and obtained permission for executing registry of 3,600 units.

Following the letter from the additional chief secretary, the three industrial bodies are compiling data of housing projects for which dues have been cleared, and the housing projects for which the realtors are yet to clear the dues.

“We are compiling data related to stuck housing projects and we will send these details to the state government at the earliest,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer, Yeida.

The Noida and the Greater Noida authorities also confirmed that they will reply to the letter soon citing the relevant details.