Emerald Court: SC to give its verdict today
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce its verdict on Tuesday on a plea of realty major Supertech Ltd against the order of Allahabad high court directing the demolition of twin 40-storey towers in the Emerald Court project in Noida for violation of building norms.
The top court will also pronounce its verdict on several other petitions moved by homebuyers for and against the April 11, 2014 verdict of the high court. A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud is scheduled to pronounce the verdict on the batch of pleas.
On August 4, the apex court had reserved its verdict on the batch of pleas while reprimanding the Noida authority saying it is reeking with corruption and had connived with the builder over not providing the sanctioned plan to the homebuyers of Supertech’s Emerald Court project.
It had said that when the homebuyers asked for the plan, the authority wrote to the developer on whether to share it and refused to give the plan to them at the developer’s behest. The top court had said that it was only after the high court expressly directed the NOIDA authority to give the plan that it did so.
Supertech had defended the construction of twin towers and
claimed no illegality. Supertech had lost the case before the high court on two counts -- distance criteria and not taking consent of home buyers before constructing those towers.
It had said the Emerald Court Owner Resident Welfare Association, which has filed the case before the high court challenging the construction of the twin towers, was not even in existence when the plan was sanctioned and construction had begun.
The builder had said that out of 633 people booking the flats initially, 133 have moved out to other projects, 248 have taken refunds and 252 home buyers still had their bookings with the company in the project.
The homebuyers association has claimed that the huge twin
towers constructed by the builder were not in the original plan shown to them at the time of booking and it has blocked their view, fresh air and sunlight.
The top court had earlier said that what Supertech Ltd has done is “palpably wrong”, as the towers were constructed by encroaching upon the green common area of the housing society.
On other hand, realty firm Supertech Ltd had told the top court that its Emerald Court owner Resident Welfare Association has been terrorising the builder by making unwarranted claims. The two towers, Apex and Ceyane of Emerald Court Project of Supertech, together have 915 apartments and 21 shops. Of these, 633 flats were booked initially.