Supreme Court sets 2-week deadline to begin work on demolition of 40-storey twin towers in Noida

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The Supreme Court on Monday fixed a two-week deadline for work to begin on the demolition of the two illegal 40-storied towers of real estate developer Supertech in Noida on the outskirts of Delhi.</p>
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The court has directed the Noida Authority to convene a meeting of the agencies concerned within 72 hours and finalise the schedule for demolishing the two towers.</p>
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A bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant said, "The CEO Noida shall take all necessary steps for observing directions of this court, work of demolition shall commence no later than two weeks from this order".</p>
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The Supreme Court had, last month, approved the proposal for the demolition agency finalised by the Noida Authority to carry out the work.</p>
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The court had earlier taken the Supertech directors to task for not going through with the demolition of the twin towers and warned that they would be sent to jail for not complying with the court’s order.</p>
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The Supreme Court has also directed Supertech to refund the money with interest to all home-buyers who have booked flats in the twin tower project by February 28.</p>
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The real estate firm has been found guilty of building two additional 40-storey towers illegally at the Emerald Court housing project in cahoots with corrupt officials of the Nodia Authority.</p>
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The residents of the housing project then went to court, claiming the twin towers were being built in violation of official norms and their consent was not taken for the expansion.</p>
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In 2014, the Allahabad High Court had ordered the demolition of the twin towers. The Supreme Court upheld the verdict last year, dismissing the appeal filed by Supertech.</p>