Noida builder arrested for ₹66 crore dues
The Dadri tehsil officials along with police arrested Ashish Gupta, promoter of Cloud-9 projects, from his Sector 127 office on Thursday evening. Gupta is kept in custody in a lockup at the Dadri tehsil office.
The Gautam Budh Nagar administration on Thursday arrested the promoter of Cloud-9 projects private limited, Ashish Gupta for failing to pay ₹66 crore land dues to Noida authority.
The Dadri tehsil officials along with police arrested Gupta from his Sector 127 office on Thursday evening. Gupta is kept in custody in a lockup at the Dadri tehsil office.
Officials said Gupta had the option of paying some parts of the dues or stay in custody. But the realty firm failed to pay any money to become eligible for release.
“Since, it is a revenue matter he will not be able to get bail, unlike normal arrest. He can get bail only if the promoter at least some parts of the ₹66 crore default amount. We can think of releasing him if the Noida authority asks us to, otherwise, he will be released only after 14 days of custody or after paying ₹66 crore upfront,” BN Singh, district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar, said.
The administration’s move to arrest Gupta comes a month after the Noida authority asked it to recover the land dues. The recovery is made by the district administration after the authority failed to collect dues despite repeated attempts.
Noida authority had issued a recovery notice to the realty firm Cloud-9, developer of Lotus Boulevard Espacia housing project in Sector 100 after it did not pay up land dues despite repeated notices. The Cloud-9 projects private limited had started developing the housing project in 2010 with a promise of delivery of flats in 2013-14. It has constructed around 500 flats in the housing project.
“Out of 500 homebuyers, around 300 buyers have got the registration of their flats done and the builder has transferred the property title to their respective names. The remaining 200 flat buyers are suffering as they are unable to register their flats because the builder has not cleared the ₹66 crore dues,” Noida authority officials, said.
Around 200 flat buyers have moved into their flats without execution of registries. The Noida authority does not give permission for execution of flat registry until a builder does not clear land dues.
The builder or other management of the realty firm were unavailable for comment.