The towering 40-floor twin residential buildings in Uttar Pradesh's Noida, which house over 900 flats, built by Supertech, will be demolished as the real estate company has violated construction by-laws, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court has upheld the judgment of the Allahabad High Court in this regard and fixed a three-month deadline to demolish the two skyscrapers.
According to the apex court’s verdict, people who had bought homes in these projects must be refunded in two months, and the cost of demolition is to be borne by Supertech.
The two towers – Apex and Ceyane form part of Supertech's Emerald Court Project comprising 915 apartments and 21 shops. Of these, initially, 633 flats were booked and the total number was increased later.
A two-member bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah ruled that the construction of the towers was illegal and achieved through an "unholy nexus" between Noida authorities and the builders.
"There are repeated instances of collusion between authorities and developers. Complicity of Noida authorities… breach of building plans, refusal of authorities to share building plans with residents and violation of building norms… The High Court dealt with these issues and, correctly, concluded collusion between authorities and developers," Justice Chandrachud said.
"This construction dilutes safety standards. Illegalities have to be dealt with strictly. The sanction given by Noida authorities is violative of building regulations… goes against minimum distance requirements between towers… fire safety norms have been violated… garden area was violated to construct the towers," the court pointed out.
The court also came down heavily on a "rampant increase in unauthorised construction" and stressed that protection of the environment and safety of residents had to be considered at all times.
Supertech had defended its construction by insisting there was nothing illegal. Among other arguments made by Vikas Singh, the counsel for the real estate firm, was that the residents welfare association that filed the case did not exist when construction started.
"We have followed the minimum distance criteria, followed the fire safety norms and all other parameters. There was no illegality as canvassed by the home buyers," he had said.
In its last hearing on the matter, the Supreme Court had pulled up the Noida authorities for failing to provide copies of the sanctioned plan to the home buyers.
