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Supreme Court directs ED, Delhi Police to submit details of cases against Unitech directors
SC told ED and Delhi Police to submit case details against Unitech directors to ensure speedy trial and said homebuyers should face no inconvenience.
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Enforcement Directorate and Delhi Police to submit details of cases against directors of ailing Unitech Ltd to ensure speedy trial and said no inconvenience should be caused to the homebuyers.
A bench comprising justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan said law should take its own course but no further leeway should be given to the accused persons.
"Trial must commence and must not go for an indefinite period. We will create a special court to hear these cases exclusively but no further delay should be caused," the bench remarked.
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The top court posted the matter for hearing on September 30.
During the hearing, the court asked where the monies deposited by the homebuyers had gone.
"Where has the money gone? Has it travelled beyond the country? What is the role of the investigating agency? Law should be lucid. Confusion created by law is benefitting the accused. We have skillful agencies which can find where the money has gone," the bench said.
The top court was informed that as far as criminal prosecution against directors of Unitech is concerned, it is in two parts.
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While one set of cases is being investigated by the ED, the other is being probed by Economic Offences Wing which has filed charge sheet in 63 different matters.
The apex court had earlier said that its objective was to ensure that 22,000 homebuyers of Unitech Ltd get their dream homes and asked the new Centre-appointed board of the real estate group, banks and financial institutions to give suggestions for an amicable resolution of the long-pending dispute.
Around 22,000 homebuyers have been waiting for houses booked with Unitech for several years. A government-appointed board has since taken over the management of the real estate firm.
Earlier, the bench said it would take a serious view of non-compliance of its orders by any state authorities in matters related to the real estate group and cautioned them against creating hurdles in the completion of the stalled housing projects.
On January 16 last year, the top court came to the rescue of thousands of homebuyers and facilitated disbursal of their stalled loans for flats constructed by Unitech by granting exemption from registration under the RERA for different housing projects located in seven states.
It had said the order passed in the interest of justice would help in dispensing with the procedural requirements for releasing and advancing of loans to homebuyers of different Unitech projects.
Under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, every project measuring more than 500 sqm or more than eight apartments must be registered with the RERA.
The top court had also issued notices to banks and financial institutions, which has declared the loan accounts of homebuyers as non-performing assets (NPA) as the projects' completion was delayed, due to financial problems faced during the erstwhile management of Unitech Group and for non-compliance under the RERA Act.
It had issued the notices on a plea by Unitech, seeking directions for disbursal of stalled loan amounts of the homebuyers.
It was contended that the banks and financial institutions, which earlier sanctioned loans to the homebuyers for purchasing units in Unitech projects, had stopped payments of the balance dues on account of projects not moving forward.
Unitech further contended that now that the projects had been revived, directions be issued to the financial institutions for disbursal of loans of homebuyers.
On October 22, 2024, the top court permitted the Centre-appointed board of directors of Unitech to seek police assistance to deal with "impediments" created by third parties on properties of the embattled realty firm.
On January 20, 2020, the top court had allowed the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to take "total management control" of Unitech.
It had permitted the board of directors "to raise funds due from the homebuyers, and to sell the unsold inventory of stock and the unclaimed inventory available for reselling".
It had also allowed the board to monetise the unencumbered assets of the company for completion of housing units.
In 2017, the Centre had moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking suspension of the current directors and taking control of the management of Unitech Ltd but had later withdrawn the proposal after a stay on its move from the top court.
In 2018, the apex court had directed a forensic audit of Unitech Ltd and its sister concerns and subsidiaries by Samir Paranjpe, Partner, Forensic and Investigation Services in M/s Grant Thornton India.
The forensic audit report said Unitech under its erstwhile promoters Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra had received around ₹14,270 crore from 29,800 homebuyers, mostly between 2006 and 2014, and around ₹1,805 crore from six financial institutions for the construction of 74 projects.
The audit said that around ₹5,063 crore of homebuyers' money and around ₹763 crore of funds received from financial institutions were not utilised by the company and high-value investments were made in tax-haven countries between 2007 and 2010.
