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No money to refund buyers, would have finished project if we had: Unitech in SC
We don’t have enough money to refund home buyers, real estate firm Unitech Ltd informed the Supreme Court on Friday, during a hearing over the company’s two delayed housing projects in Noida and Gurgaon.
We don’t have enough money to refund home buyers, real estate firm Unitech Ltd informed the Supreme Court on Friday, during a hearing over the company’s two delayed housing projects in Noida and Gurgaon.
“We don’t have money. If we had money, we would have constructed the flats and buildings and given to them (buyers),” A M Singhvi, counsel for Unitech Ltd, told a SC bench comprising of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice U U Lalit.
The bench told Singhvi that the firm has to refund nevertheless.
It also asked the buyers, who are seeking refund, to say how much money the company owes them by August 17.
Some flat owners of Unitech’s Burgundy project in Noida and Vistas in Gurgaon told the bench that they don’t want refund but want to own the house they paid for.
More than two dozen home buyers of Unitech’s housing projects in Noida and Gurgaon have approached the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) after the builder failed to deliver the flats on time.
The consumer forum has ordered the real estate firm to refund the money to home buyers with interest.
Last month, when the firm challenged the order in SC, the apex court asked the company to deposit an interim penalty of Rs 5 crore with the court registry as a penalty.
The penalty will be awarded to the buyers or returned to Unitech, depending on the outcome of the case, the court had said.
