The Supreme Court of India.
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) to examine and decide a proposal of the state-owned NBCC seeking to complete embattled realty major Supertech Limited's 17 stalled projects where around 27,000 hassled home buyers are stuck for years.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar which issued notice on an application of the NBCC said the pendency of the appeal before the apex court will not bar or prohibit the NCLAT from passing appropriate orders on the proposal.
"Pendency of the present appeal and the present application will not come in the way of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) examining and deciding the proposal of the NBCC for the 17 projects of the corporate debtor (Supertech Ltd). Parties are at liberty to raise all pleas and contentions before the NCLAT," the bench said in its order.
It said any party aggrieved by any order of the NCLAT will be entitled to challenge the same in accordance with law.
The top court further added that while passing the order the court has taken into consideration the plea and submissions on behalf of Union Bank of India, NBCC and flat buyers who are present before the court.
"The NBCC has clarified that the object of filing the present application is not to interfere with the proceedings before the NCLAT but to ensure that in case any orders are required to be passed under Article 142 of the constitution to implement and execute the orders passed by the NCLAT in terms of the proposals are expedited and not hurdles are not created," the bench noted.
Senior advocate Krishnan Venugopal, appearing for erstwhile promoters of the Supertech Ltd said that passing of this order on NBCC application would mean that NCLAT would not consider any other proposal.
"No, we have not said anything like that. All pleas and contentions will cover that portion also. If someone comes up with a better proposal then let him come. But the fact of the matter is that nobody is going to bite the bullet to the extent that promoters will get some money from somewhere. Once the flats buyers hands are burned they will never have faith in them," the bench told Venugopal.
At the outset, Venugopal submitted that NBCC is not going to bring any penny and there are certain financiers who are ready to put the funds in the stalled projects.
The bench said nobody puts in a penny unless they make a penny and it is not how NBCC works.
It told Venugopal, "As far as financiers are concerned nobody is going to take your statement. Once the confidence of home buyers is shaken, there will be difficulty." The bench clarified that its order will also apply for Supertech's Eco-Village-II project for which the top court had last year allowed the insolvency proceedings to go on.
Advocate ML Lahoty, appearing for home buyers said that on behalf of 7000 flat buyers of Eco-village-II they support the proposal of NBCC for all 17 projects, as they have seen the outcome in the case of erstwhile Amrapali Group.
Senior advocate Gopal Jain, appearing for NBCC said that in case of Amrapali Group, where the corporation was entrusted with the responsibility of completing the stalled project, certain enabling orders were passed by the apex court and similar orders will be needed in this case also.
The bench said that if the need arises, it will pass the necessary order and would not allow any hurdles to come in.
The NBCC seeks to complete the 17 projects which were launched in the National Capital Region, Dehradun and Bengaluru but completion of the residential units was hit due to financial crisis faced by the realty major which led to insolvency proceedings since 2021.
The NBCC, in its recent application before the NCLAT, had submitted terms of reference for undertaking the pending projects of Supertech Ltd.
The public sector enterprise proposes to complete the 17 projects in three phases. Under Phase 1, it proposes to complete Eco-Village-2 (Greater Noida), Romano (Noida), Capetown (Noida), Czar suites (Greater Noida), Eco-village-3 (Greater Noida), Sports Village (Greater Noida) and Eco-citi (Noida).
Under Phase-2, the NBCC as per its application before NCLAT proposes to undertake Northeye (Noida), Upcountry (Yamuna Expressway), Eco-village-1 (Greater Noida), Meerut Sports City (Meerut) and Green Village (Meerut).
For Phase 3, the NBCC will undertake Hilltown (Gurugram), Aravile (Gurugram), Rivercrest (Rudrapur), Doon Square (Dehradun) and Micasa (Bengaluru).
The NCLAT has recently asked the 27,000 homebuyers and other stakeholders to submit objections, if any, to a proposal by NBCC to complete the stalled projects of Supertech Ltd.
The top court was hearing the pleas of Indiabulls Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd and Union Bank of India - both financial creditors of Supertech Ltd - challenging the June 10, 2022 order of the NCLAT by which the tribunal had ordered commencement of insolvency proceedings in Eco-village-II of the realty firm and not the entire company.
On May 11, 2023, the top court allowed a "project-wise resolution" process for Supertech Ltd and allowed construction of all other projects by the developer under the supervision of an interim resolution professional (IRP).
The Union Bank of India had initiated insolvency proceedings against the realty firm under section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code on March 20, 2021, claiming a total amount of over Rs 431 core as on January 31, 2021, along with accrued interest.