The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to come up with a proposal for construction of stalled projects of embattled real estate major Unitech Ltd within ten days, so that over 16,000 hassled homebuyers are not left in lurch.
The top court said that the Centre should suggest the modalities and name of the third-party agency like the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) Ltd which could construct the pending projects of Unitech Ltd in a time bound manner.
The Unitech Ltd resisted the suggestion that the pending projects be handed over to a third party like the NBCC and said they were not able to deliver even in the case of Amrapali, another embattled real estate major.
A bench of justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah was told by Attorney General K K Venugopal that a third party could be involved in the construction of pending projects and a high-powered committee headed by a retired high court judge could oversee the construction.
Venugopal said that after consulting with the officials concerned, he can suggest the modalities which can be approved by the court accordingly.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Unitech, said that they have delivered over 17,000 flats out of 29,000.
"Despite all odds, in a total of 74 projects, we have completed over 70 per cent of the work and handed over 17,000 flats to homebuyers," Singhvi said. He said that handing over of the projects to a third party would not serve any purpose as the court had seen the work of the NBCC in the Amrapali matter.
Singhvi suggested a plan for completing the pending projects and said that the entire work will be completed in the next three years.
"The homebuyers who are before us invested their money some 10-12 years back and now you are proposing another three years for completing the projects. Question is for how long do these homebuyers wait," the bench said.
It said that Unitech was saying that the NBCC should not be trusted but the fact is the real estate firm's plan is such that it does not inspire any confidence and it is subject to availability of funds from a third party.
"We can't keep the homebuyers who have approached us in lurch. The NBCC is accountable to the government and the government is accountable to its people. We want someone who can be held accountable. As the attorney general has
said we will wait for the government to come up with some kind of proposal for completing the pending projects," the bench said.