New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Monday asked the NCLAT to take an expeditious decision on the amalgamation of the remaining 14 housing projects of debt-ridden realty firm Supertech under a court-monitored framework to ensure completion and end the woes of homebuyers.
Earlier, the top court, on February 5, upheld an NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) order asking the State-owned NBCC to complete 16 housing projects, out of a total 30, of Supertech Limited. The NCLAT is likely to take up the matter on April 24.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of the apprehension of homebuyers over uncertainty on the completion of the stalled projects, which are still in limbo and being dealt by the debt-ridden firm unlike 16 other projects that were earlier handed over to the PSU NBCC.
The CJI requested the NCLAT to take up the pleas on an urgent basis and hear all the stakeholders, including land-owning agencies such as Greater NOIDA as well as farmers.
It noted that the judicial order was necessitated by the fact that the insolvency resolution professional of Supertech Ltd has been suspended due to alleged misconduct.
Earlier, the bench had opined that “the issues relating to the remaining projects also ought to be administered within the same court-monitored framework”.
“Accordingly, the underlying policy with respect to all the projects, whether fully completed, substantially or partially completed, or which are lying incomplete and inactive, including those which have been handed over to NBCC, shall be determined by a common authority that may be set up by this Court,” it had said.
Now, the bench has asked the NCLAT to take a decision on the remaining projects as to whether they can also be handed over to another agency for completion under the court-monitoring framework.
The bench had earlier came to the rescue of thousands of hassled homebuyers waiting for the delivery of their houses for almost two decades and upheld an NCLAT order asking the NBCC to complete 16 projects.
It had also restrained all the tribunals and high courts from passing any order that could lead to the stalling of the construction work to be completed by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) Limited.
The top court exercised its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to uphold the December 12, 2024 order of the NCLAT, asking the NBCC to take over the projects in the interest of homebuyers.
The bench noted that Supertech, according to many homebuyers, had booked around 51,000 houses for delivery during 2010-12.
The bench had directed the NBCC to undertake the projects and complete those expeditiously as envisaged by an expert committee set up by the NCLAT.
It also directed the committee to provide support to the NBCC in the completion of the projects.
The NCLAT, on December 12, 2024, asked the NBCC, a public sector undertaking (PSU) under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, to complete the 16 housing projects, comprising 49,748 homes in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Karnataka.
Around 27,000 homebuyers await receiving houses in these projects.
The NCLAT judgment came after the October 1, 2014 order of the top court that allowed the insolvency appellate tribunal to examine and decide a proposal of the NBCC seeking to complete the stalled projects.
The NCLAT had directed the NBCC to “start the process of award of work before March 31, 2025” and ensure the awarding of the contract within a month thereafter. It was also ordered that the construction work for the 16 projects would start from May 1, 2025.
It had ordered the “constitution of an apex court committee and project-wise court committee” for each project.
The NBCC was asked by the NCLAT to nominate a member to each project-wise court committee.
The NBCC had sought to complete the projects, launched in the National Capital Region (NCR), Dehradun and Bengaluru, but the completion of the residential units took a hit owing to a financial crisis faced by the realty major, leading to insolvency proceedings beginning 2021.
The NBCC had submitted the terms of reference for undertaking the pending projects of Supertech before the NCLAT.
The PSU had proposed to complete the 16 projects in three phases.
Under Phase 1, it had proposed 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, according to its application before the NCLAT, had proposed 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 had proposed to undertake Hilltown (Gurugram), Aravile (Gurugram), Rivercrest (Rudrapur), Doon Square (Dehradun) and Micasa (Bengaluru).
The Union Bank of India initiated insolvency proceedings against Supertech under section 7 of the IBC on March 20, 2021, claiming more than Rs 431 crore as on January 31, 2021, along with the accrued interest.
