Earlier, the authority had cancelled the allotment of 53 acres to Unitech, after the realty firm failed to pay the land cost. Meanwhile, apartment buyers have welcomed the Supreme Court move of handing over the control of the realty firm to the government.
As the promoters of Unitech are in Delhi’s Tihar jail and have failed to deliver housing projects, the apex court has allowed the government to take over the firm so that it can deliver flats to buyers. It has also restored the allotments cancelled by the authority in October, 2019.
On October 9, 2019, the Noida authority had cancelled the allotment of housing land to Unitech Group. The Noida authority needs to recover ₹2,743.29 crore land dues from Unitech. The group failed to pay ₹1,203.45 crore dues for a housing project in Sector 113, and ₹1,539.84 crore dues for a housing project in Sector 117.
The authority had cancelled the allotment of 53 acres located in the two Noida sectors of 113. For the Sector 117 project, the authority has only issued a notice threatening to cancel the allotment.
“We had cancelled Unitech’s allotment in order to recover our dues and also secure the rights of homebuyers. Now as the control of the Unitech is with the government, through a board which will run this company, we will easily be able to secure our interests. We will put our issues before the board,” Ritu Maheshwari, chief executive officer, Noida authority, said.
Unitech had planned housing projects in Noida’s sectors 96, 97, 98, 113, and 117. Most of these sites have become an eyesore with rusted iron grilles and dilapidated civil structure for the past several years. Some buyers have been living in partially completed towers in a residential project in Sector 117, while the housing project site in Sector 113 is abandoned. Other residential projects in Noida’s sectors 96, 97 and 98 are also not completed.
Buyers hope they will get the justice now. “We hope that the new board will start construction at the site and we will be able to get our flats,” Mayank Kumar, a buyer of Unitech project in Sector 113, said.
The Centre on Saturday had proposed that it will take control of Unitech and deliver flats. The Supreme Court on Monday accepted the proposal and allowed the new board to take over, officials of the Noida authority said.
“The new board should make sure that they do not delay the delivery further because we have suffered for the past so many years,” Sarvesh Mishra, who booked a flat in Unitech’s Sector 117 project, said.
Prasanta Patnaik