SC refuses to pass order on Noida’s plea seeking return of surplus land with Unitech

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Delhi/NCR

The Supreme Court on February 10 refused to pass any order on a plea by Noida Authority seeking return of 277 acre surplus land, worth Rs 8,000 crore, given to embattled realty firm Unitech Ltd on lease for housing projects which have not been built.

The top court told Noida Authority that it would be appropriate to wait till the newly constituted Board of Directors of the company submits a resolution plan for the cash strapped realty firm.

“At present, we cannot allow Noida to walk away with the surplus land, which would not be appropriate. Once the newly constituted board of directors submit a resolution plan, then we will see what to do with the surplus land,” said a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Noida said that 347 acres of land was given to Unitech by the authority in three sectors for construction of housing projects but in major chunk of land, no construction has been made.

He said that thousands of crores of rupees are still outstanding on the part of Unitech to be paid to Noida and the unutilized land be restored to the authority.

The bench said that releasing the land at present may affect the preparation of resolution plan being prepared by the board of directors.

“We are not saying that money is not to be paid to Noida. Its a public institution and its outstanding amount has to be paid. But at present, we are holding our hands back as it may affect the preparation of resolution plan,” the bench said, while asking the parties not to treat the issue as adversarial.

The top court said that after the resolution plan comes, it may monetise the surplus land and pay the outstanding amount to Noida but till then, it has to wait.

Mehta, then requested the court to direct the new Board of Directors to consider this aspect of surplus land in the preparation of resolution plan.

The top court directed that any decision taken by the new board should be a collective one and duly passed in a meeting.

It also took exception to Senior Advocate P S Patwalia, appearing for new board of directors, and said that he had earlier appeared for old board of Unitech.

“We are not casting any aspersion or saying anything but questions of conflict may be raised as you (Patwalia) had earlier appeared for old board of directors. Since the new board of directors was appointed on the recommendation of Union of India, which means it’s the alter ego of the government,” the bench said.

The top court said that it would be appropriate if Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, represents the new board in further proceedings before the court while Attorney General K K Venugopal appears for Union of India.

“It will be appropriate if we have assistance of both the senior law officers,” the bench said.

On January 20, the top court had allowed the Centre to take total management control of the embattled realty firm and appoint a new board of nominee directors.

The top court had approved the name of retired Haryana cadre IAS Officer Yudvir Singh Malik as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the new board and directed that the existing board of directors of the company would stand superseded.

It had also refused to appoint Unitech Group Founder Ramesh Chandra, as a member of the new board saying that it would not be appropriate at this stage.

The top court had asked the new board to submit its report in two months on the resolution framework of the company.

It had also approved the names of members of the board which include A K Mittal, ex-CMD of National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC); Renu Sud Karnad, Chairman of HDFC Credila Finance Service Pvt Ltd; Jitu Virwani, CMD of Embassy Group; and Niranjan Hiranandani, Managing Director of Mumbai-based Hiranandani Group.

Unitech promoters Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra are currently lodged in Tihar jail for allegedly siphoning off homebuyers’ money.

It had said the committee headed by Justice S N Dhingra, which was appointed to sell the company’s assets and use the money in completion of pending projects, would continue to work till the new board comes up with a resolution framework.

On December 18, last year, the top court had asked the Centre if it was agreeable to revisit its 2017 proposal.

In 2017, the Centre had moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking suspension of the current directors and taking of control of the management of Unitech Ltd but had later withdrawn the proposal after a stay on its move from the apex 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 auditors have also submitted their report which said that Unitech Ltd received around Rs 14,270 crore from 29,800 homebuyers mostly between 2006-2014 and around Rs 1,805 crore from six financial institutions for the construction of 74 projects.

The audit revealed that around Rs 5,063 crore of homebuyers’ money and around Rs 763 crore of fund received from financial institutions were not utilised by the company and high value investments were made off-shore tax-haven countries between 2007-2010.

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