600 acres of Unitech land will be auctioned to repay homebuyers

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court of India on Monday decided to auction over 600 acres of real estate company Unitech Ltd’s land in Agra, Varanasi and Chennai to generate funds and repay home buyers but said that it would pass an order on an e- auction of these properties by July-end, in a move that should spell relief for harried homebuyers.

A total of 4,688 homebuyers are claiming a refund of Rs 1,865 crore from Unitech, against flats booked in various projects undertaken by the company, many of which have been abandoned.

Proposing the auction of Unitech properties to the court, amicus curiae in the case Pawan Shree Agarwal said, “Except for some objections to 11 acres of 99 acres land in Agra, land in Varanasi and Chennai can be put for auction. For this, Supreme Court will have to constitute a committee which will oversee the auction process”. This proposal by the amicus comes after Unitech was not able to deposit Rs 100 crore in Supreme Court by May 11 as ordered to. A three-judge bench of the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud also sought help from the amicus on the easiest and quickest way to sell the properties.

Appearing for the company senior advocate Ranjit Kumar confirmed the company was willing to put 99 acres of land in Agra, 130 acres of land in Varanasi and over 400 acres of land in Chennai on the block to raise money.