NBCC can take up Unitech projects, Centre tells Supreme Court

Attorney General K K Venugopal, representing the Centre, conveyed this to the court in response to a direction asking it to submit a proposal to finish the incomplete projects of the group.

The direction had come after the court rejected Unitech Ltd’s application seeking permission to continue with the construction of the pending projects.

Moved by the plight of homebuyers, the bench had also asked the Centre to suggest the modalities and name of the third-party agency that could undertake and finish the project in a time-bound manner.

On Monday, Venugopal said NBCC Ltd was ready to act as project management consultant for the stalled housing projects of Unitech. This means that while NBCC will not do the construction work by itself, it will get the same done through other agencies or private players.

Venugopal also informed the court that the Centre had proposed to put in place a high-powered committee, headed by a former High Court judge, to oversee the work. A technocrat could also be included in it, he added.

Following the Centre’s submission, the bench asked advocate Pawan Shree Agrawal, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae in the matter, to update the proposal on the web portal created on the court’s orders so that home buyers can give their feedback.

The court also asked Agrawal to collate the suggestions and convey it to the bench.

The bench said it will seek the assistance of the panel headed by former Delhi High Court judge Justice S N Dhingra, which had been entrusted with the task of selling Unitech’s assets.

The court will now hear the matter on August 9.

Last week, the top court, while cancelling the registration of Amrapali Group of Companies under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, had asked the NBCC to complete various projects and hand over possession of the flats numbering around 42,000 to the buyers.