SC orders Unitech to deposit Rs. 5 cr as penalty for delay
Unitech shares slump over 2 per cent on compensation order
On a complaint filed by two home buyers—Diwakar Mishra and Vinay Kumar Singh—who had booked apartments in Unitech’s Noida luxury residential project in October 2010 and supposed to get possession by April 2012, NCDRC had asked the developer to offer possession of the flats on or before October 31, 2017 along with “compensation @ 12% per annum w.e.f. 16.04.2013 till the date on which possession is offered to them or till 31.10.2017, whichever is earlier.
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) had ruled in 2015 that Unitech will have to compensate the complainants on simple interest basis as they had already paid 95% of the amount for the property and the construction is still far from complete. Since the real estate company had failed to comply with the NCDRC order, the Supreme Court had earlier asked it to deposit a sum of Rs. 5 crore by June 10, 2016.
Upon petition from the builder for extension of time, the SC has now ruled that, “the sum of Rs. 5 crore be deposited with UCO Bank by August 5, 2016 failing which, the respondents are at liberty to move an application for contempt of this Court and in that event, the Directors of the petitioner-company may be sent to custody,” Justice Dipak Misra and C Nagappan said in their order.
The real estate firm Unitech is under the lens for extreme delay in completion of a high-end residential project Burgundy which was launched on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway near New Delhi.
