Managing Director and Chairman of Mantri Group- Sunil Mantri

Recently, the Bombay High Court asked Mantri to not to sell any property till next court orders and after this the Bombay High Court also appointed an official liquidator with an aim to took the possession on the properties of Mantri Group.

After coming in news or controversy; Sunil Mantri, the Managing Director and Chairman of Mantri Group resigned from the position of NAREDCO chairman. NAREDCO is an umbrella body of real estate developers.

When media tried to contact Mantri, so he confirmed that reports, but refused to provide any additional details. However; earlier it was report that Mantri has defaulted on sum of over Rs300 crore and after that all investors or creditors had appealed in the Bombay High Court with an aim to get the pending dues with an interest rate of 25 to 36 percent. According to reports, till now more than 60 investors and creditors had filed the cases against Mantri by stating that he has cheated on them as well as buyers and borrowers. According to reports now he will not be able to dispose any of his fixed assets which belongs from the company without court’s order.

However; a real estate developer from South Mumbai stated that in present property market is down and due to that developers are not able to pay back the loans and interests. Most of the real estate developers are launching the projects and with booking amount they are buying other properties. But if any plot comes under the under litigation, so it becomes very difficult to come out from that mess.

Mantri Group

The unsecured creditors of Mantri Realty, a property developer have demanded that company should pay back their loan with interest rate in single transaction, however; the amount is about Rs.300 crore, as per the people who are working with Mantri Realty. According to resources, the payment was defaulted for two years and due to that company reached out to the lenders with an aim to settle the case outside of Bombay High Court. Apart from that Bombay High Court has also appointed the official in an order to liquidate the assets of company.

Sunil Mantri, the MD and Chairman of Mantri Realty, has approached the investors and he is looking for the possibilities to settle the dues with certain negotiations and payments in some installments, but still clients are insisting the company to do one stroke payment. However; people are still waiting for terms and conditions on repayment¸ as per the statement of Anil Agarwal, a lawyer representing case of 10 of the 35nsecured lenders who moved the Bombay High Court against the Mantri Realty. Till now Sunil Mantri hasn’t respond to the calls and email of media, who want to hear the MD of Group, but in response of the text message he sent the number of lawyers of Group who are legally handling the case from the side of developer.

According to recent news, the court ordered Sunil Mantri to deposit his passport and official liquidator has taken possession at the company’s registered office which is located at the Marine Lines in Mumbai. As per sources, there are about 30-40 cases which are against Mantri Group and they are interrelated, however; they are under the section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1888. Directors; Pankaj Arekar, Deepankar Salvi and Ranjit Ranehave been asked not the leave country without written permission of court. In Year 2012 to 2013, the Mantri Realty had borrowed Rs.300 crore at 24 to 36 percent annual interest rate from private financiers.

In January 2014, the company stopped paying interest as well as principal amount and soon after that all the financiers moved to the Bombay High Court. Mantri Realty has residential projects in all the seven major cities and buyers are worried after the appointment of the official liquidator, whereas; as per the legal experts, there are chances that home buyers could face the problem if their agreements are yet to be registered and court will order to wind up the company. The next hearing of the case is scheduled on January 25.

Image Credits : DNA

D B Realty, the leading real estate developer has merged its subsidiary Gokuldham, the real estate development company and the company has informed to BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange).

According to reports, amalgamation will be effective from April 01, 2013, the appointed date “Pursuant to the Orders passed by the High Court of Bombay on October 16, 2015 and October 27, 2015 (company received order at October 29, 2015 and November 04, 2015). The company has filed and takes the record on December 23, 2015 by Registrar of Companies.

While closing at Tuesday the shares of D B Realty was at Rs 57.40 at BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) and it was down by 1.4 percent over Monday’s close.

Bombay High Court

During the hearing of two PILs filed by Rajiv Mishra and advocate Mayura Maru raising concerns over mushrooming illegal constructions in Navi Mumbai, the Bombay High Court took a stern view on the issue and has  directed that criminal cases should be registered against builders responsible for them.

The division bench of Justices an S Oka and V L Achiliya who were herring the plea said, “People are being taken for a ride. FIR needs to be registered against these builders and Criminal law needs to be set in motion. Illegal construction is a serious offence under the IPC and the MRTP & builders should not only be held responsible, but also penalized for it.

The court has directed a senior police officer from Navi Mumbai to be present before it on October 19. “We would like to know what steps the police have taken against defaulting builders. A special team comprising senior officers to inquire into this should be constituted by the Police Commissioner of Navi Mumbai,” it added.

The state government had told the court earlier this week that it plans to regularize all illegal constructions in Navi Mumbai and a policy on this will be framed shortly.

Mr. Singhania

On last Friday, Bombay High Court refused to grant a interim relief for the grandchildren’s of Dr Vijaypat Singhania and we all know that they were the one against whom HC has issued the instructions to not to deal with their any property including  the Family Settlement of 1998, as Madhupati Singhania is estranged son of Dr. Vijaypat Singhania.

In due course of time, grandchildren’s of Dr. Vijaypat Singhania will have to come up for hearing as Justice Gautam Patel refused to grant any kind of interim relief for them. All the petitioners; Rasaalika (26), Raivathari (18), Tarini (20) and Ananya (29) are the children of Dr. Vijaypat Singhania’s elder son Madhupati, who had left the Mumbai family home before 17 years with his wife Anuradha to get settled in Singapore and later Dr. Vijaypat make him estranged son. In February 2015, Madhupati’s children filed suit with a claim that they also share the family properties.

However; grandchildren had sought directions to stop any further transactions the assets of Dr. Vijaypat, which is worth of Rs 1,000 crore. It also include the assets, which were listed in the Family Settlement on 1998 and also the 2 lakh shares of their flagship company Raymonds Ltd, which was on the name of Madhupati and he also share 1/4th share in JK Bankers, the parent company which was responsible for the success of entire business, whereas; few additional assets were listed on the name of grandchildren’s. All the four grandchildren’s argued in their suit that as per the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, the father cannot deal any property which is on the name of minor kids without getting permission from court. But Dr. Vijaypat’s counsel opposed the claim on the basic ground where they stated that if property is from joint family, so there is no need to get court order to deal with the undivided property. The more he added that all four grandchildren’s had sought to challenge the outcome of a document without offering to surrender the profit of benefits which they have received under that document. However; we cannot forget that there is delay of more than 11 years in filling the case which means it is time-barred.

The counsel, which was appearing for the flagship company Raymonds Ltd. stated that our company name was dragged in to the issue to get additional benefit, whereas; our company is neither a party nor privy to the execution of the final settlement.

Inorbit mall in Vashi is illegal

On Friday, The Bombay high court stated that CIDCo (City and Industrial Development Corporation) was irregularly allotted the 31,000sq m of land in Vashi. Star hotel and Inorbit mall. The bench of Justices A. S. Gadkari and Abhay Oak said that the developer could apply for CIDCo for regularization in this period.

Earlier, CIDCo had issued the showcase notice to the developer in current month, asking why the allotment should not be cancelled. The state-appointed D K Sankaran panel, which probed the matter, had also said in its report in 2005 that the allotment should be cancelled. The land in Vashi, on which Four Points hotel and Inorbit Mall stand, to K Raheja Corp and directed the developer to “hand back vacant possession” of the land to the planning agency in next six months.

While checking the lease agreement between developer and CIDCo, it’s clear that developer illegal directed that land be “restored”, and later the court rejected the developer’s plea on stay the order for 12 weeks. It is also said that since it has given six months’ time to developer to vacant the possession, now developer has a choice to go for appeal. The court stated, no third-party interest should be created during this period.

The Inorbit Mall and hotel were built in 2008-2009, a total of 11 plots opposite Navi Mumbai railway station, which comprised a total area of 31,000sq m, were allotted by CIDCo to K Raheja Corp in 2003. While in 2004, two PILs were filed in HC by stating that land had been given at cheap rates without issuing tenders and later the HC clubbed the PILs together as they were similar.

The counsel of  V A Gangal, for the developer stated that “We will not depend on the mercy of CIDCo to regularize our land but will move the apex court, as my clients had followed all the rules to construct the shopping mall and hotel after a legal stay was earlier vacated. The total cost f construction was more than Rs 450 crore, currently, land involves 2,000 employees and 150 retailer shops it means more than 8,000 peoples livelihood will be affected. So it is also a human problem”.

The panel of D K Sankaran reported that CIDCo had suffered a loss of nearly Rs 50 crore because of this allotment which was “in gross violation of rules, CIDCo constitutional norms and policy. According to policy, after cancellation of allotment, the land “needs to be disposed of by inviting tenders and recommended the strong action against the then MD of CIDCo and other officers who dealt in the same file.

However, Gangal said that developer had paid Rs 31 crore for the land and it is more than the market price in 2003, and the IT land and later it had been converted in to commercial at that time as there had been no takers for it. Gangal further said that the Supreme Court had, in a similar case, and HC to take a ”pragmatic” view and directed, if there were any losses caused so it could be recovered from the developer.

CIDCo had terminated the services of one of GM in 2011 for allegedly showing undue favors to the developer and later he admitted in an affidavit in HC in September 2014, that the allotment was “arbitrary and illegal.” According to Thakur, This judgment is good and will send out a strong message to other developers. In past CIDCo had made the mistake of giving prime plots to a single builder at very low rates without tenders.  In the first half of 2014, the HC had allowed activist Sandeep Thakur to intervene in the PIL because two original petitioners were absent. The court also appointed lawyer M S Karnik as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the matter.

The bench of High Court, also appreciated the efforts of the intervener, Thakur, and the amicus curiae, Karnik. High Court also asked to CIDCo to pay Rs 50,000 to the original petitioner because of land irregularities.