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SC directs Unitech to deposit Rs 15 crore to court
In a setback to real estate giant Unitech Ltd, the Supreme Court told the company on Wednesday to deposit Rs 15 crore with its registry over its delayed housing projects in Gurgaon by September end.
In a setback to real estate giant Unitech Ltd, the Supreme Court told the company on Wednesday to deposit Rs 15 crore with its registry over its delayed housing projects in Gurgaon by September end.
A bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice UU Lalit said Rs 5 crore should be paid in two weeks and the balance should be deposited before the deadline ends. “Those who are not keen to take the flats need to be refunded,” the bench told Unitech’s counsel.
The realty firm’s plea that the company cannot be compelled to pay failed to impress the court.
31 flat buyers who had invested in Unitech’s Vistas project in Gurgaon have sought a refund from the company. Home buyers had approached the national consumer forum against the company for delay in handing over the possession of flats. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission had rapped the company for not adhering to the timeline and directed the company to follow it while imposing a fine on it.
Unitech challenged the order before the Supreme Court, which on August 12 made it clear that the company will have to refund the money if it is unable to deliver the flats.
Unitech, however, pleaded for leniency on the ground that it was not financially stable.
“We don’t have money. If we had money, we would have constructed the flats and given them to the buyers,” the counsel had told the court.
The bench thereafter asked counsel appearing for the flat-buyers to furnish a list of people who wanted to get their money back from the company.
Read| SC asks Unitech to deposit Rs 5 crore for delay in handing flats