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SC orders demolition of 40-storey towers in Noida over building norms violation
A bench, headed by Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, upheld the 2014 judgment of the Allahabad high court and directed Supertech to pull down the towers at its own cost within three months under the supervision of an expert body
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the demolition of twin 40-storey towers of realty firm Supertech’s Emerald Court project in Noida over grave violation of building norms. A bench, headed by Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, upheld the 2014 judgment of the Allahabad high court and directed Supertech to pull down the towers at its own cost within three months under the supervision of an expert body. It has also asked the firm to refund all the homebuyers within two months apart from paying ₹2 crore to the Residents’ Welfare Association that led the fight against the illegal construction.
The top court came down heavily on the Noida Authority for colluding with the builder to pave way for the illegal construction in breach of municipal and fire safety norms. It said the 2009 sanction plan approved by the Authority was illegal since it flouted the minimum distance criteria. The top court added the plan could not have been sanctioned even otherwise without the consent of the homebuyers.
The verdict came on a clutch of petitions by homebuyers for and against the 2014 verdict of the high court. On April 11, 2014, the high court ordered the demolition of the two buildings within four months and the refund of money to apartment buyers. This judgment was stayed by the top court after the firm filed an appeal.
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On August 4, the top court reserved its verdict while reproaching the Authority for its “shocking exercise of power” in sanctioning the two residential towers in a green area, and then blocking the right to information requests from homebuyers about the building plans.
As the Authority blamed homebuyers for complaining too late, the top court said: “From the way you are arguing it appears that you are the promoter. You cannot be fighting against the homebuyers. As a public authority, you have to take a neutral stand. Your conduct reeks of corruption from the eyes, ears, and nose and you are trying to find fault with the homebuyers.”
The top court pointed out that when the homebuyers asked for the plan, the Authority wrote to Supertech on whether to share it and refused to give it to them at the developer’s behest. It added it was only after the high court expressly directed the Authority to give the plan that it did so.
Supertech defended the construction of twin towers and claimed there was no illegality. It added it lost the case in the high court on two counts -- distance criteria and not taking consent of homebuyers before constructing the towers. The firm said the Emerald Court Owner Resident Welfare Association, which moved the high court challenging the construction of the twin towers, did not even exist when the plan was sanctioned, and construction began. It said out of 633 people, who booked the flats initially, 133 moved out to other projects; 248 took refunds, and 252 still had their bookings with the company in the project.
The association claimed that the towers constructed by the builder were not in the original plan shown to them at the time of booking and they have blocked their view, fresh air, and sunlight.
The two towers have 915 apartments and 21 shops. Of these, 633 flats were booked initially.
In its verdict, the high court sought prosecution of Noida Authority officers allegedly involved in collusion with the developer. It ordered the demolition saying the two towers were built too close to each other and violated the Noida Building Regulations of 2010 that requires the minimum distance to be 16 metres. The high court noted the developer had not taken the consent of homebuyers as required under the Uttar Pradesh Apartment Owners Act, 2010.
In appeal, Noida Authority argued the homebuyers did not complain when Supertech was increasing flats and floors in this project with each successive building plan.
Supertech cited other housing projects in Noida which had a distance of six to nine metres between towers. It added in the case of the company’s twin towers, the distance between them is 9.88 metres or 32 feet. The company said it is the discretion of the builder to create a building block by keeping the buildings adjacent to each other or separate as long as the floor area ratio allows that.
