The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered demolition of twin 40-storey towers built by real estate developer Supertech in Noida within three months, saying that the construction was a result of the collusion between the officials of the Noida authority and Supertech.
A two-member bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah also directed the company to refund within two months the money of people who had bought homes in the residential project. The bench ruled that all home buyers be reimbursed along with 12 per cent interest on the money invested, adding the demolition shall be overlooked by the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) to ensure safe demolition.
Slamming the “unholy nexus” between the real estate company and Noida Authority, the top court said the construction of the twin towers containing around 1,000 flats in Supertech Emerald Court in Noida were done in violation of the rules and must be razed within a period of two months by Supertech at its own cost.
The top court’s order came on an appeal filed by Supertech against the 2014 Allahabad High Court order directing demolition of twin 40-storey towers. The realty firm had defended the construction of twin towers and claimed no illegality.
Earlier this month, the SC bench had said that the Noida Authority was “reeking with corruption right from eyes and nose”, as the latter failed to provide sanctioned plan to the Supertech’s Emerald Court project home buyers.
It had said that when the homebuyers asked for the plan, the authority wrote to the developer on whether to share it and refused to give the plan to them at the developer’s behest.
The two towers, Apex and Ceyane of Emerald Court Project of Supertech, together have 915 apartments and 21 shops. Of these, initially, 633 flats were booked.
On April 11, 2014, the Allahabad High Court ordered the demolition of the two buildings within four months and the refund of money to apartment buyers.