SC seizes control of Amrapali office building, hospitals
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court seized control of a hospital and an office building owned by real estate developer Amrapali, and took the first steps on Tuesday to potentially initiate contempt proceedings against its directors.
Promoters of the group have been in custody of the top court since October 9 in connection with the missing funds that they took from nearly 40,000 homebuyers whose flats are yet to be constructed. “This is a serious kind of fraud,” judge Arun Misra said on Tuesday.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court seized control of a hospital and an office building owned by real estate developer Amrapali, and took the first steps on Tuesday to potentially initiate contempt proceedings against its directors.
Promoters of the group have been in police custody since October 9 in connection with the missing funds that they took from nearly 40,000 homebuyers whose flats are yet to be constructed.
“This is a serious kind of fraud,” judge Arun Misra said on Tuesday, after court-appointed auditors said the company continued to be uncooperative in efforts to trace the money given by investors.
The properties attached by the court include a hospital in Greater Noida, Amrapali’s office building in Sector 62, Noida and a villa in Goa that is believed to have been purchased using Amrapali funds though its ownership is still unclear.
The court has given directors time till November 20, the next date of hearing, before it takes more steps.
The judges asked the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) to explore the possibility of auctioning the hospital.
Justice UU Lalit, who is also on the bench, told the lawyers for Amrapali that the funds the company has spent to acquire property or create new companies will need to be refunded.
“It should come back since the money belongs to the buyer. Therefore, all this (properties) have to be sold,” he said.
The judges came down hard on the statutory auditor for the company and Amrapali chief financial officer (CFO) when advocate ML Lahoty, appearing for flat buyers, said the two also flouted court orders.
“You two are simply passing the buck,” Justice Misra said.
Lahoty informed the court that the company had not disclosed the land Greater Noida had leased them for its residential projects and how much had been sub-leased to third parties to raise money.
At this, the court gave three weeks to CFO Chander Wadhwa to refund ₹11 crore he and his company had received from Amrapali.
The money has to be deposited with the top court registry. Similar direction was given to the statutory auditor, Anil Mittal, who was asked to deposit ₹47 lakh.