Granted relief by Supreme Court, Noida buyers bearing brunt of subvention scheme slam builders, banks
Under the subvention scheme, the banks or financial institutions would disburse the sanctioned amount directly to the builder who is supposed to pay the pre-EMIs or full EMIs until the possession of the flat is handed over to the home buyers.
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NEFOWA, a body of flat buyers, said buyers in projects such as Earth Infrastructure, Airwil, Unibera, Amrapali, Unitech, Jaypee, Rudra Builders etc. are “victims of the irregularities” in the Subvention scheme. (File Photo)When Dheeraj Sharma, 44, migrated from Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh to take up a private job in Noida two decades ago, he had one dream: a home of his own with dedicated rooms for his two children. In 2015, he booked a 2-BHK flat in Amrapali’s Centurian Park in Greater Noida by availing the “Subvention Plan”.
Nine years on, Sharma is yet to see a trace of the promised house for which he had paid Rs 7 lakh. On the other hand, the last few years have been a nightmare for him with the banks bombarding him with notices, asking him to pay the remaining amount.
For homebuyers like Sharma, a recent order from the Supreme Court has brought some relief with the court directing the bank not to take any coercive action against the buyers who booked a flat under Subvention Plan and are yet to get possession of their flats.
Under the subvention scheme, the banks or financial institutions would disburse the sanctioned amount directly to the builder who is supposed to pay the pre-EMIs or full EMIs until the possession of the flat is handed over to the home buyers. However, in many cases across the NCR, the builders left the projects midway, leading to alleged harassment of homebuyers by the banks as the loans were taken in their name.
Narrating his ordeal, Sharma said, “I bought the flat for Rs 30 lakh. I did not have the money, but I wanted a flat for my children at any cost. The builder told me about a subvention plan and I thought that it could be a good opportunity as it will give me three years’ time to arrange the money and the builder will pay the EMI (interest part only) till the delivery of the flat. They got a loan of Rs 17.80 lakh in my name. A total of Rs 21 lakh loan was sanctioned on my flat. But the builder paid the EMI only for six months and disappeared…,” said Sharma, who works at a private university in Noida.
He said that despite buying a flat, he is still living on rent in sector-122.
“I am paying Rs 15,000 rent every month. At the same time, the banks are sending me notices, demanding payment of dues. They have declared my account a non-performing asset (NPA). Once I needed to take a loan but could not borrow a penny because the bank spoiled my CIBIL score. Now the banks are saying that I have a liability of Rs 55 lakh and will have to pay Rs 66,000 per month as EMI to clear the dues. I don’t even make that much money every month, how will I be able to repay this loan?” said Sharma.
On the Supreme Court order, he said, “Of course, the stay order is a relief for buyers like us. But our hope is that the court gives a clear decision in this, which has a clear roadmap to solve the problems of this subvention scheme.”
Like Sharma, 53-year-old Rakesh Bhatia, a Delhi resident and government employee, had booked a flat in Greater Noida west under a government scheme – Aadarsh Awaas Yojna — under Subvention Plan. Around a year after the booking, he got to know that the project never existed and was scrapped in absence of permission from the authority.
“I booked this flat in 2016 and a loan of Rs 36 lakh was sanctioned; around Rs 12 lakh was disbursed to the builder. Though it was a government scheme, it was being developed by Amrapali, which has now been taken over by NBCC after the builder went bankrupt. The project was to be developed in three phases, but the builder sold the flat for the fourth and fifth phase also. My flat was in the fourth phase and after around a year, we got to know that the builder was misleading us,” said Bhatia.
He further said, “The builders had created this scheme to take advantage of the helplessness of the common man and with the connivance of the banks, crores of rupees were lost. Many a times, people do not have enough money to make the full payment in one go. So in this scheme, the buyers were in a position to save some money and pay the EMI and get the flat after three years. But this is where we were cheated…”
NEFOWA, a body of flat buyers, said buyers in projects such as Earth Infrastructure, Airwil, Unibera, Amrapali, Unitech, Jaypee, Rudra Builders etc. are “victims of the irregularities” in the Subvention scheme.
“This is one of the biggest scams happening in broad daylight in the name of buyers. The banks, in collusion with builders, have loaned crores of money without due process and after they (builders) ran away, buyers are facing the brunt,” said Abhishek Kumar, President of NEFOWA.
“RBI guidelines have been flouted at every step. This is a big relief, the stay from the SC but will the builders be prosecuted for cheating the buyers and banks as well? How can they go against the agreement and destroy the lives of thousands of buyers?” he added.
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