Supreme Court Asks Haryana for 10-Year Affordable Housing Project Details
The Supreme Court has asked for precise details of the action taken against real estate development companies granted licences under the Haryana government’s housing scheme and found to be deficient. The Supreme Court (SC) has sought detailed information on the action taken against real estate development companies granted licences under the Haryana government’s affordable housing scheme and found to be deficient. (Symbolic image) The Supreme Court also sought to know the number of projects completed so far and the number of homebuyers who have actually taken possession of the housing units under these projects. The top court has also asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to explain whether it has registered Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs) in cases similar to the one registered against real estate firm Mahira Buildtech. Get the latest Union Budget 2024 tax implications, key announcements, sector analysis and more exclusively on HT. Read now! The developer’s parent company and its sister companies have been booked for cheating, forgery and violating the provisions of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act and the conditions of the building license. Home buyers in Gurugram are outraged and have been holding regular protests against the developer for not handing over the houses to them, thereby damaging their investments. A bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Surya Kant, while hearing a petition filed by an aggrieved homebuyer on July 22, said it found it appropriate to direct the principal secretary of the Haryana Town and Country Planning Department to file an affidavit with complete and detailed answers to a number of questions before taking up the plight of homebuyers in the projects launched by Mahira Buildtech. The Supreme Court has asked how many licences have been granted for affordable housing projects in Haryana (including the National Capital Region) during the last ten years, what was the estimated cost of each project at the time of initiation and what are the essential features of trilateral or other agreements between the developer, the property buyers and the banks/financial institutions. “Have the original drawings of each project been approved by the Town and Country Planning Authority? If so, how often have the licenses or the approved drawings been supplemented, modified, replaced or changed after such approval? What special mechanisms has the State established to regularly monitor the progress of these projects, check the quality of construction and determine the ratio of cost to quality and total construction area,” the Supreme Court said. The top court also sought to know what was the initial allotment price when the affordable housing projects were launched and what was the price charged to the homebuyers after the completion of the projects. “Whether bank guarantees were obtained from the promoters and whether their authenticity was ascertained before issuing the licences? Whether these bank guarantees have expired or whether their renewal was secured in time? If not, who are the officials in the department responsible for this expiration and whether any action has been taken against them,” the top court has asked. The Supreme Court has asked the ED to provide details of ECIRs registered by it in cases where FIRs have been registered at the instance of the homebuyers, the State or financial institutions relating to offences under Sections 406, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC. Source : The Economic Time
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