In a marked crackdown on realtor giants, the Supreme Court ordered Supertech to give customers their money back who had invested in their project in Noida. Not taking cognizance of financial instability in the reality market the SC came down heavy on bigwigs and stated that it did not care whether the realtors sink or die as long as they give back the money taken from homebuyers in case of failed projects.
The move comes at a time when the Delhi High court ordered Unitech on September 2 to deposit 90% of money collected from buyers in escrow account and use the remaining money to refund those who want their money back due to delays in projects. In case of delays more than two years the court ordered the realtors to give back twice the amount invested earlier since the market prices tend to vary within the time frame.
“We are not concerned about your financial conditions but before you sink or die the realtors will have to give the homebuyers their money back in a transparent fashion as the money amounts to lifesavings for most people who invest in such projects”, stated the SC bench headed by Justices Dipak Mishra and AK Goel told Supertech realtor firm. The bench has ordered the firm to pay back money within four weeks to 17 buyers as assured by the company at the onset of the project.
The court has also directed the firm to make a chart of payments made by the company to the 17 buyers at the next court hearing. The project got into trouble over legal violations and citing bad financial market prospects, the company wanted respite from paying back home buyers when the project could not meet all legal requirements. Supertech is the third real estate giant to come under legal scanner.
