Emerald Court residents fought a battle against Supertech; now onus is on the Government to fix the accountability

The twin towers built by Supertech Ltd. in Noida and termed by some news channels as “Towers of Corruption” were finally demolished on Sunday. The UP government has proposed action against officers of the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) employees and the builders, including the architect involved, as the collusion between the development authority and realty company has been proved in the construction of the twin towers in violation of the law. The government had set up a four-member special investigation team in September 2021 under the chairmanship of the commissioner of infrastructure and industrial development to fix the responsibility of officials of the NOIDA and Supertech builders after the Supreme Court observed that there was collusion between the two in the illegal construction of the twin towers. Based on the committee's report, action has been initiated against 26 people, including the officers and employees involved in the case, the directors of Supertech Limited, and their architects.

An FIR was lodged by NOIDA in Vigilance Establishment in October 2021, against the officials of the development authority, the directors of Supertech Limited and the architect involved in the case. In addition, a case was also filed by the NOIDA in the district court at Gautam Buddha Nagar for prosecution against the development authority's personnel and M/s Supertech Limited.

Apart from the government officers, the list also contains the names of four directors and architects of Supertech Limited. The list includes the names of following officials: Mohinder Singh, CEO, New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (retired); SK Dwivedi, CEO, NOIDA (retired); RP Arora, Additional CEO of the development authority (retired); Yashpal Singh, Officer on Special Duty, NOIDA (retired); Saif Mairajuddin, Planning Assistant, NOIDA (retired); Rituraj Vyas, Associate Town Planner (currently General Manager in-charge of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority); SK Mishra, Town Planner, NOIDA (retired); Rajpal Kaushik, Senior Town Planner, NOIDA  (retired); Tribhuvan Singh, Chief Architect Planner, NOIDA (retired); Shailendra, Deputy General Manager, Group Housing (retired); Baburam, Project Engineer (retired); TN Patel, Planning Assistant, (retired); VA Devapujari, Chief Architect Planner, (retired); Anita, Planning Assistant (presently in UP State Industrial Development Authority); NK Kapoor, Associate Architect (retired.); Mukesh Goyal, Planning Assistant (currently working in GIDA on the post of Manager Planning); Praveen Srivastava, Assistant Architect (retired); Gyanchand, Law Officer (retired); Rajesh Kumar, Legal Adviser (retired); DP Bhardwaj, Planning Assistant; Vimla Singh, Assistant Town Planner; Vipin Gaur, General Manager (retired); MC Tyagi, Project Engineer (retired); KK Pandey, Chief Project Engineer; PN Batham, Additional Chief Executive Officer; and AC Singh, Controller of Finance (retired).

Directors and architects of Supertech Ltd who are likely to face the axe include RK Arora, (director), Sangeeta Arora, (director), Anil Sharma, (director) and Deepak Mehta (associate architect), Navdeep (interior designer).

The construction of the twin towers in Sector 93A of Noida began in 2004. At that time, Mohinder Singh was posted as CEO in NOIDA. The list includes the names of Singh and the five CEOs appointed after him. During their tenures, approval was given to build or increase the height of the towers.

Towers of Corruption

Why were the twin towers demolished? The saga of corruption started in 2004, about 18 years ago. The NOIDA allotted plot number 4 of group housing scheme in Sector 93A to the Emerald Court on November 23, 2004. This was to be built by the Supertech builders. The group housing society submitted a proposal for construction of 14 towers to the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority. The Authority passed the proposal of G+9, i.e., nine storeys with a ground floor, for all the 14 towers.

After almost two years, on November 26, 2006, the development authority made the first amendment to the map of the group housing societies. The builder was given permission to build two more floors. Thus, permission was given for all 14 towers to construct 11 floors instead of nine. In the meantime, the development authority also gave permission for the construction of two more towers -- called tower 15 and tower 16. The builder was also given permission to construct 11-storey buildings. The height of the tower was fixed at 37 metres. There were constant changes in the construction plan of the towers. In this sequence, on November 26, 2009, the map of Tower No. 17 of the Group Housing Society was passed.

The map of tower number 16 was amended. According to the new map, the construction of 24 storeys was allowed in towers number 16 and 17. Now its height was fixed at 73 metres. The matter did not stop here. The third revision of the tower map was made on March 2, 2012. Under the new amendment, the floor area ratio for towers numbers 16 and 17 was increased. Under the new changes, permission was given to construct 40 storeys in both the towers

The exposure

The corruption was exposed after the members of the resident welfare association raised questions about these constructions. For the first time in 2012, the residents of the society approached the court. The builder had sold the flats to them promising green areas around them, instead, twin towers were erected there. Udaybhan Singh Teotia along with SK Sharma, Ravi Bajaj and MK Jain won the long legal battle. One of this quartet – Jain — died of COVID-19 recently. Udaybhan Teotia, president of Emerald Court Residents Welfare Association led the battle which started in High Court and ended in the Supreme Court.

Bhan claimed that initially, the builder did not even give the building plan. Before going to the court, he wrote a letter to all the authorities, including the then UPOl Urban Development Minister Mohammad Azam Khan. Slowly the fight was reduced to a fight between residents and the builder. A legal committee was formed in the society to fight the battle against the builder. There were about 40 people in this committee. They fought this case by collecting donations from society. Initially, they asked for donations of Rs 500 rupees, then Rs 3,000, and lastly Rs 17,000.

 loss of Supertech

The cost of a 3 BHK flat in the Supertech Emerald Court project was said to be around Rs 1.13 crore. There were about 915 flats in both towers, which would have earned the company around  Rs  1,200 crore. Out of the total 915 flats, around 633 were booked and the company collected around Rs 180 crore from the buyers. Now the company has been asked to return the money of these people with a 12 per cent rate of interest.

(The author is Political Editor, The Pioneer, Lucknow)