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Amrapali projects: Get all pre-construction nods for funds, NBCC told
The direction came even as the bench of justices UU Lalit and Bela M Trivedi noted that the first tranche of ₹150 crore of the proposed ₹1,500 crore fund infusion was disbursed to NBCC on March 31 by a consortium of seven public sector banks headed by the Bank of Baroda.
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) to obtain all pre-construction approvals for the stalled Amrapali housing projects after a consortium of banks claimed that the ₹1,500 crore to be infused into the projects cannot be released till site-specific clearances, including environment and fire safety, are in place.
The direction came even as the bench of justices UU Lalit and Bela M Trivedi noted that the first tranche of ₹150 crore of the proposed ₹1,500 crore fund infusion was disbursed to NBCC on March 31 by a consortium of seven public sector banks headed by the Bank of Baroda.
The objection raised by the banks was put to court in a note submitted by the court-appointed receiver, senior advocate R Venkatramani, who informed that the objection was about guaranteeing equitable mortgage for securing the total loan amount while the other pertained to statutory approvals.
Venkatramani pointed out that Amrapali’s lease stood cancelled for alleged diversion of homebuyers’ money as ordered by the top court in July 2019, and no equitable mortgage can be provided on the properties whose original lease is in the name of Amrapali.
He suggested that the situation could be taken care of if the lease is vested in the receiver. The bench approved the suggestion.
On the other aspect, the consortium of banks represented by advocate Alok Kumar pointed out that builder needs to secure a set of approvals -- environment clearance, fire safety, building safety and sewage treatment approval, among others -- before commencing construction.
“We need these approvals to be first put in place for money to be disbursed,” said Kumar, adding that some clearances have not been obtained by NBCC while another set of approvals had lapsed with time.
NBCC, represented by advocate Gudipati Kashyap, informed the court that all necessary approvals will be taken to facilitate the smooth flow of funds. The NBCC had claimed before the court that it was short of ₹540 crore and required urgent funds to complete construction.
About 2,500 dwelling units in Amrapali have been completed by NBCC after the court had directed the public sector company to take over the housing projects left in limbo due to the sudden exit of Amrapali following the July 2019 verdict.
Venkatramani informed the court that the completed units were receiving positive response from buyers. “The sale of completed flats is in progress. A total of 187 units have been booked fetching a price of ₹100.07 crore...,” the receiver said.
“This was an uphill task to get ₹1,500 crore for these projects,” remarked the bench, as it noted the significant contribution made by the receiver, the banks and the officials of banks and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) involved with the process.
Under the present infusion of ₹1500 crore by the consortium of seven banks, Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank have committed ₹300 crore each; SBI ₹250 crore; a sum of ₹200 crore each by UCO Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank; ₹150 crore by PNB; and ₹100 crore by Bank of India.
