more-in The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed state-run NBCC to develop stalled projects of Amrapali Group and directed the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) to sell unencumbered commercial properties of the real estate firm. The Supreme Court directed opening of an escrow account in the apex court in which the amount received after the sale of properties will be deposited and later disbursed to NBCC to start construction of pending projects in group A and B categories. It also directed that documents and details, including bank accounts, balance sheets of all 46 companies, including Jotindra Steel, since 2008 be given to the forensic auditors. “NBCC is appointed to develop the projects and prepare a Detailed Projects Report [DPR]. It can also find out the consortium of banks ready to finance the projects,” the Bench said. Cautioning NBCC, it said, “Once we put the projects in your basket, you cannot shrug the responsibility of completing them. We will bind you with it.” It granted liberty to Amrapali Group to hold talks with banks, Housing and Urban Development Corporation, and other financial institutions for financing the construction of its stalled projects. Noting that ?1,590 crore can be generated from the sale of unsold inventory, the court said, “Dharmendra Singh Rathore, Officer, DRT, is entrusted with the sale of properties mentioned in the list of commercial properties.” It said there may be some encumbrances in Noida and Greater Noida on these properties, which shall be paid at a later stage, and that Amrapali should provide all necessary details, including title deeds, dues and encumbrances, to the DRT Officer. The Bench also questioned Amrapali Group on why it had not filed Income Tax returns since 2015 and what were its in-house auditors doing on non-filing of returns. Appearing for Amrapali, advocate Gaurav Bhatia said IT returns had not been filed due to litigation. “They have not filed Income Tax returns. We want to know each and every fact as to where the money has gone, what has been done with the money, but you [Amrapali] have kept everything in a fluid state,” the Bench said. It said an auditor is supposed to act as a watchdog of the company and say “if you do not give me the required papers, then I will put down my papers”. The Bench directed that ?5 lakh to be transferred to DRT from the frozen bank account of Amrapali. It added that representatives of the real estate firm, Noida and Greater Noida, should assist the DRT Officer in selling the properties. The court found that the affidavit filed by Amrapali Group CMD Anil Sharma, giving details of assets, contained certain averments regarding lawyer M. L. Lahoti, appearing for homebuyers in the case, and said a fresh affidavit shall be filed within seven days. “We are working hard so that people who have invested their money get their homes, but we are not sure that you [Amrapali] will permit us to do so. Your conduct is very unfair,” it said. The court had initially said that homebuyers may be directed to pay their current dues to generate funds for NBCC to complete the stalled projects of group A and B categories. Mr. Lahoti said the court had been saying in every hearing that homebuyers will not be asked to pay any money at present. The Bench said it understood people had lost faith in the builder but homebuyers can be asked to deposit the money in the escrow account or directly in the court. “Homebuyers are already under great pressure due to delay in completion of projects and to pay pending dues, they will have to take loans,” the counsel for homebuyers said, urging the court not to direct the same at least for now. Amrapali’s counsel said the group has proposed to the court that funds can be raised by selling commercial properties and unsold inventory, and six unencumbered properties can also be kept as mortgage with banks to secure a short-term loan. The apex court had on September 6 identified 16 properties of Amrapali Group for auctioning, preferably by NBCC, to give the PSU an initial corpus to start work on the stalled projects. It had also ordered forensic audit of the firm and its promoters to gauge the extent of financial wrongdoings. The top court had also brought the Amrapali CMD under the scanner for declaring assets worth ?67 crore as against ?847 crore in his affidavit filed during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when he unsuccessfully contested as a JD(U) candidate from Bihar’s Jehanabad constituency. NBCC had given a proposal for completion of 15 residential projects of Amrapali having 46,575 flats at an estimated cost of ?8,500 crore in 6-36 months.

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