First arrest under RERA in Noida as builder fails to pay

NOIDA: The Gautam Budh Nagar district administration made its first arrest under the Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA), which was brought into effect to safeguard the rights of builders and homebuyers.

Anil Mithas , the promoter of IVR Prime IT Private Limited, was arrested on Friday afternoon after he failed to pay nearly ₹72. 47 lakh to the administration, despite multiple recovery certificates issued to the company. He was released by late Friday after he deposited the whole pending amount along with a fine of ₹3 lakh. This is the first case of recovery from a builder in Noida under the RERA.

The real estate regulatory authority, which was formed a year ago to address issues faced by homebuyers, had directed the Gautam Budh Nagar administration to recover ₹1.23 crore from the two builders to pay homebuyers who have sought a refund of their money.

The recovery of ₹19.84 lakh, ₹21.24 lakh, ₹36.91 lakh and ₹14.34 lakh — in four different cases — was to be made from IVR Prime IT Private Limited. An amount of ₹30.76 lakh was to be recovered from Amrapali Group, after they refused to refund buyers’ investment. Four of the investors had booked shops and the fifth had booked a flat with the builders.

“No action can be taken against Amrapali builders as that matter is in the Supreme Court,” DM BN Singh, said.

The arrest took place after IVR Prime failed to refund the money, despite a RERA order in February, and the buyers approached the authority again. The RERA then directed the administration to issue recovery certificates.

“There were complaints against Mithas lodged with the RERA. He had paid ₹50 lakh and defaulted on the remaining amount,” AK Singh, SDM, Dadri, said. Despite attempts, HT was unable to contact officials of IVR Prime IT Private Limited.