Commence Demolition Of Supertech's Twin Tower Within 2 Weeks: SC

The Supreme Court Monday directed the authorities to commence within two weeks the demolition of realty major Supertech Ltd's twin 40-storey towers of its Emerald Court project in Noida.

A bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant also directed the Noida CEO to convene a meeting within 72 hours in which all the agencies concerned shall be present to finalise the schedule for demolition.

"The CEO Noida shall take all necessary steps for observing directions of this court, work of demolition shall commence no later than two weeks from this order,'' the bench said.

The apex court also noted the submission of the Supertech that an email was received from the Noida intimating that necessary NOC's have been received for facilitating work of demolition from the agencies concerned.

The court was also apprised that a cheque of Rs 70 lakh minus TDS has been given to the agency entrusted with the task of demolition and was assured that there is no impediment in the realisation of the cheque.

At the outset, the counsel for NOIDA told the bench that Edifice Engineering wrote a letter dated February 3, 2022, saying that entire funds have not been paid over.

"Yesterday, NOIDA received an email from Supertech that the balance payment of Rs 70 lakh has been released subject to receipt of approvals. what approvals are wanting I fail to understand," the counsel for NOIDA said.

The bench expressed displeasure over the demolition delay and said, "We don't want to get into permissions and all. It is not our concern. You tell us what is the status of the demolition. We are not going to go into which authority is going to give the permission that is your duty. It is an order of the Supreme Court. You have to comply with it."

The counsel for Supertech submitted that one of the NOC's relates to GAIL (Gas Authority of India Ltd) as there is a high-pressure gas pipeline which is 16 metres away from the building to be demolished and it has a depth of three metres.

"They say they cannot switch off the gas supply because it supplies gas to the whole Noida and adjoining areas. We wrote to them seeking NOC saying these are experts and they can handle this. But GAIL said they want to hold meetings with the Noida authority and also with Edifice. We have released all the amounts. We have arranged the meeting," the counsel said.

Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, who is amicus curiae in the case, told the bench that the authorities will have to come together.

"They are acting in different fields. The district administration needs to figure out when the demolition will take place, what traffic restrictions are to be put in place, and what is the safety concern of residents? All this needs to be done on the ground. It seems they are acting at cross purposes. The demolition activity is serious because there are residents nearby," he said.

On January 12, the top court pulled up the builder for not complying with its orders to demolish the twin 40-story towers in sector 93 of Noida and warned that its directors will be sent to jail for "playing truant with the court".

On August 31 last year, the top court had ordered the demolition of Supertech Ltd's twin 40-storey towers under construction within three months for violation of building norms in "collusion with NOIDA officials", holding that illegal construction has to be dealt with strictly to ensure compliance with the rule of law.

It had directed that the entire amount of home buyers be refunded with 12 per cent interest from the time of the booking and the RWA of Emerald Court project be paid Rs 2 crore for the harassment caused due to the construction of the twin towers, which would have blocked sunlight and fresh air to the existing residents of the housing project.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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