Relief likely for 18,000 homebuyers as Suraksha group set to take over Jaypee Infra next week

A meeting of Implementation and Monitoring Committee (IMC), comprising the builder, the Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP), and a representative of homebuyers has been called next Tuesday, where future course of action regarding construction of the stalled projects will be taken.

The committee was approved by NCLT last year to look after the day-to-day development of the project.

There are around 18,000 homebuyers – over 90% of which are in Noida alone – across 19 projects of Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL) awaiting their completion after the firm went bankrupt in 2017 on failing to deliver the flats and defaulting on loans.

Last year, on March 7, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the resolution plan of Suraksha Realty Limited. However, YEIDA challenged the order, arguing that additional farmers’ compensation worth Rs 1,689 crore in line with the state government’s 2014 policy has not been addressed.

Declaring YEIDA as a secured creditor, NCLAT, in its order last week, ordered Suraksha group to pay Rs 1,334 crore to the authority.

“The construction of the stalled projects will begin after Suraksha takes over the company. After the IMC meeting, a meeting with Suraksha and YEIDA will be held, where details of the NCLAT order will be discussed,” said Dr Arun Vir Singh, CEO, YEIDA.

At present, there are 97 towers across several stalled projects in Noida (Garden Isles, Krescent Homes, Kasa Isles, Orchard, Kube, Pebble Court, Wishpoint, Kosmos and Kensington Boulevard) where no construction activities have taken place in the last 8-10 years.

Projects such as Sunnyvale Homes, and Yamuna Vihar Plot and Tanishq Square are completely stalled and refund has been proposed for the projects in Mirzapur (in Greater Noida) and Agra. As per the 2003 agreement, in lieu of construction of the expressway, YEIDA gave the company approximately 6,177 acres of land that it acquired from farmers at five different locations abutting the expressway— Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida, Jaganpur and Mirzapur), Tappal in Aligarh, and Agra — on a 90-year lease.

However, the company could start development work on only three land parcels — in Noida, Mirzapur and Agra.

Meanwhile, the homebuyers, under the umbrella of JIL Real Estate Allottees Welfare Society (JILREAWS), said that while NCLAT order is welcome, concrete steps to begin the construction are yet to be taken.

“The wait is getting longer everyday. There are homebuyers who have been waiting for the flats for more than a decade now. Now the matter is out of NCLAT. If YEIDA challenges it, the matter will go to the Supreme Court. If the authority accept it, the construction may begin soon. The residents have not been told yet as to what the builder will do now. We are in a wait-and-watch situation,” said Ashish Mohan Gupta, president of JILREAWS.

The IMC is, meanwhile, continuing the work on four projects i.e. Kosmos, Klassic, Kensington Boulevard and Kensington Park Apartments and Heights, comprising 62 towers and involving 6,067 homebuyers.