New Delhi–The Central government on Monday told the Supreme Court that the NBCC is willing to complete pending housing projects of Unitech under a court-appointed monitoring committee, headed by a retired high court judge, which would eventually hand over the possession of the flats to home buyers in a time-bound manner.
Attorney General K.K. Venugopal submitted that they have filed the report along with the NBCC’s proposal. “In the report filed before the court, we suggest that a Committee be constituted to oversee be completion of the project,” he said.
A bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice M.R. Shah said that the proposal submitted by the NBCC will be vetted by the Committee, suggested by the Attorney General.
The NBCC has sought Rs 50 crore as construction fee and two per cent of the entire project for due diligence, before beginning the process of construction.
M.L. Lahoti, counsel for the home buyers, however, contended that this proposal from NBCC is not similar to its proposal earlier shared in Amrapali. “We strongly disagree with this demand of the NBCC before it takes over pending projects,” he said.
During the course of hearing, arguments were made about the capability of the NBCC to carry out the construction work as it is already handling Amrapali’s pending projects, and it is likely to take over construction of Jaypee as well.
The Attorney General said that L&T had initially made a proposal but later refused to take over the project.
The court observed that the NBCC will not execute the work but will only oversee the construction. “The work might be sub-contracted, if required. And, the whole project will also be monitored step by step by the Committee suggested by the AG,” it said, adding that no stay has been granted related to construction.
At the end of the hearing, the court observed that there should be one counsel for all the home buyers in order to streamline the process of hearing on the matter.
The court also directed the amicus curiae in the matter to upload the NBCC proposal on the website for the home buyers to go through the proposal, and submit their suggestions by August 2. The amicus curiae shall collate the suggestions and put them up on website too.
The court will next hear the matter on August 9. (IANS)
