SC Asks Amrapali Home Buyers to Clear Dues; Says Flats Maybe Cancelled Otherwise

"It's like you've been given lassi, but you also want malai on top of it," said the court.

Supreme Court of India. Image used for representational purposes. 

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The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday, 3 September, warned home buyers of the Amrapali Group that the purchase of their apartment units is liable to be cancelled if they do not clear their dues as per the payment plan.

A special bench of the apex court, comprising Justice UU Lalit and Justice Ajay Rastogi said that the home buyers are under the impression that the construction of their stalled apartments is being facilitated by the court and that the finances for the same are also being managed by it, reported PTI.

The court said that the buyers may be under the incorrect impression that they are at liberty to thus pay their dues at their convenience.

"It's like you've been given lassi and you want want malai on top of that," said the court.

"They (home buyers) will have to strictly follow their payment plans else their units will be cancelled and will be considered as unsold inventory," the bench added.

The court's remarks came after senior advocate R Venkataramani submitted that mistakes had been noticed in the list of 9,538 flats, wherein some flats were either unclaimed, booked under a fictitious name or are benaami properties. Venkataramani said that the mistakes were being corrected and that an updated list will be available in two to three days.

Advocate ML Lahoty, appearing for the home buyers, said that the NBCC had said that they'd be able to hand over about 2,000-2,500 flats in the stalled projects of Amrapali Group by December 2021, if Rs 200 crore is given to them.

The court thereafter asked if the buyers who were to get posession of these flats will be able to clear the payments by 15 October as per the payment plan.

The court further added that it can issue a direction stating that if home buyers fail to fulfill their payments, then the purchase of the flat may be cancelled.

Thereafter, advocate Venkataramani also told the court that most buyers were paying according to the payment plan except those who were paying through bank loans, which were stuck due to various problems.

(With inputs from PTI)