Cut to Sectors 128 and 134 along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, where visitors are instead greeted by unfinished concrete towers that give the impression of an abandoned town.Express photo by Gajendra Yadav Cut to Sectors 128 and 134 along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, where visitors are instead greeted by unfinished concrete towers that give the impression of an abandoned town.Express photo by Gajendra Yadav

An artist’s impression of a township — showing an array of high-rises neatly spread around landscaped greens and water bodies, an expansive golf course, and several other ‘community facilities’ — greets visitors on the Jaypee Wish Town website. “The integrated city,” it promises, “will see all types of residential and commercial options for urban living”.

Cut to Sectors 128 and 134 along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, where visitors are instead greeted by unfinished concrete towers that give the impression of an abandoned town. This is in stark contrast to the promised “luxurious Pavilion Court apartments, a shopping hub for 4,000 ready- to-move-in apartments, amenities such as swimming pools, gymnasiums, children’s play area, tennis and badminton courts within multiple clubhouses” — all of which are yet to see the light of day.

Those who have managed to get possession of their flats are lucky — but only marginally. In July last year, Chandrashekhar Chauhan, an MNC executive, moved into Jaypee Wish Town’s Kosmos project — four years after he was promised delivery of his two-bedroom flat, and six years after he invested Rs 35 lakh to own a home in Delhi-NCR. “I am among the fortunate ones. For four years, we paid rent for an apartment in Sector 49 as well as monthly EMIs for the loan I had taken,” Chauhan said.

But living amidst dozens of empty shells of buildings isn’t exactly what he had imagined six years ago. What was promised then, he said, was “a modern residential gated community with expansive landscaped greens, water bodies and Zen gardens”.

Chauhan is among the 6,500 people who invested in Wish Town and managed to get possession of their flats. To put things in context, there are 32,000 flats that are part of Jaypee’s Wish Town housing plans.

Most, like B N Gupta, are still waiting for a place they can call home. Gupta’s three-bedroom flat, next to the tower occupied by Chauhan, is yet to be finished. “I invested in 2010 and was supposed to get possession in 2013, but I am still running around to find out the status of the project. At the construction site, just the outer structure with around 18 floors has been built. Flooring work, interior design — all of it is pending,” Gupta said.

On Friday, Gupta had reached the Jaypee office in Sector 128, hoping to get an update. “The top management of Jaypee cannot be reached. Employees said they don’t know about the status of our flats and that they are busy dealing with claimant forms relating to the insolvency case. At Wish Town, Jaypee has put up hoardings on each building announcing the month in which buyers will get possession. But nothing has happened so far,” he added.

On August 9, a Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) was initiated with regard to Jaypee Infratech Limited, with the National Company Law Tribunal appointing an Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP). As part of the CIRP, the company’s Board of Directors was suspended and the management of the company’s affairs now vests with the IRP. With the insolvency resolution process leading to panic among home investors, who feared that the company was bankrupt, the IRP maintained that the “CIRP was not a proceeding for liquidation but a process to find a resolution”. “I am conscious of the interests of key stakeholders, including flat owners,” the IRP’s statement read.

No power, no water

Whether it’s Greater Noida or along the Noida-Greater Noida expressway, the narrative is the same — big promises, poor delivery.

On Friday night, a group of angry residents at AVJ Heights in Greater Noida’s Sector Zeta I gathered at the gate, surrounding a police vehicle that had arrived. For the last three days, residents of at least 1,000 flats have had no electricity. Police eventually booked the builders, as well as 20-25 unknown persons, under charges of rioting.

In April this year, the builders, Vinay Jain and Vipin Aggrawal, were arrested for duping home buyers of nearly Rs 20 crore — by selling the same flats to multiple people.

Adesh Saini, who moved into his two-bedroom flat at AVJ Heights with his family two years ago, summed up the situation: “Not a single resident has been given a possession certificate for their flat — we have paid but are staying here illegally. There is seepage in the walls and erratic electricity supply.”

Power supply to Saini’s society was cut because of non-payment of electricity dues to the Noida Power Company Limited. The outstanding amount: Rs 2.3 crore.

“On Friday night, when there was no electricity, I took my family to a restaurant. Then we stayed in the car till 2 am, when the generator set was finally switched on. But it was switched off again at 6 am. We need electricity to run the water pumps. We have been managing with very little water for the past few days,” Saini said.

But it’s not just basic amenities residents have to worry about. “The builder sold the same flat to two-three people. Almost everyone who bought a flat here took a loan from the bank. Every other day, people from one bank or another come to the society and stick notices outside flats. Many residents don’t even know if their flat has been sold to someone else till bank officials turn up,” Saini said.

Mounting pressure

As disgruntled home buyers found a way to reach out to each other — using online forums and WhatsApp — their protests began to take a more organised shape. The last few weeks saw massive protests by those waiting for flats in Jaypee and Amrapali projects.

In the face of such anger, the Noida Authority and Greater Noida Authority gave in to a long-standing demand put forward by home buyers three months ago — that the defaulters be named on their websites to ensure that potential buyers make informed choices.

The list is, perhaps, the best indicator of the magnitude of the problem. On the Noida Authority website are 94 housing projects where dues range between Rs 0.17 crore and Rs 3,051.64 crore. The top three defaulters are Unitech (Rs 4,800 crore), Amrapali

(Rs 1,076.81 crore) and Aims Max Gardenia Developers Pvt Ltd (Rs 1,055.63 crore).

The Greater Noida Authority’s website lists 99 projects, with dues ranging between Rs 1.10 crore and Rs 404.61 crore.

According to Manoj Gaur, CREDAI NCR President, the current situation is a result of work being stalled since 2011 due to land acquisition problems and court cases. “There has been miscalculation on part of the authorities as far as the list of defaulters is concerned. They have not given builders the benefit of zero period — for the time construction was stalled due to court cases — and interest has been charged for the period. Then, there are problems with some builders as they have diverted funds to other projects,” he said.

Panic among buyers escalated in the last few weeks after Bank of Baroda, one of the financiers of Amrapali group, moved an insolvency plea in the National Company Law Tribunal (see box). At Noida Sector 62, the space outside Amrapali’s corporate office has been turned into a protest site, prompting top management to submit their passports to the district administration to assure home buyers that they will not flee the country.

But this hasn’t done much to convince Prabhat Kumar, who had invested in Amrapali’s Dream Valley. Sitting on an indefinite strike, he said, “For years, such assurances have been made by builders, the authority and the government. But no action has been taken and possession has been delayed by more than four years. After what happened to Jaypee, if Amrapali declares bankruptcy, we will never get our flats. The state government needs to take strict action against builders. One builder declares bankruptcy and the rest will follow suit.”

Amrapali had rolled out its Dream Valley project in Greater Noida West in 2009, offering 12,000 flats across 47 towers. As per Greater Noida Authority records, the developers have defaulted on a total amount of

Rs 337.22 crore, and only 40 per cent of construction work has been completed so far.

“The projects were derailed because work completely stopped between 2011 and 2015. Work at three major projects — Leisure Park, Leisure Valley, Dream Valley — was stalled due to land acquisition problems and the Okhla sanctuary case in the NGT. Every year, there is 5-7 per cent inflation, leading to an increase in cost of construction. Our flats were sold initially at very low rates but the cost of production increased… The panic among buyers is valid but there is a need to understand the problems faced by builders. We are stuck between the government and buyers. If the government helps builders in co-developing the projects, a solution can be reached,” said Shiv Priya, Amrapali Group Director.

The Noida Authority, meanwhile, has been trying to reach a consensus on the way forward — it held meetings last week with home buyers, senior officials and builders to discuss delayed projects and finances.

“A key point was finding a solution to the deadlock between buyers and builders. One suggestion was to provide completion certificates to portions of projects that are ready, so that properties can be transferred to the buyers and registered under their names. This will be looked into and recommendations will be forwarded to the CM’s office for approval,” a senior Noida Authority official said.

The insolvency procedure

* When accounts are listed for insolvency, an application has to be filed by one of the creditors (banks, financial institutions, etc) with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), stating that the company was given a loan and it defaulted. Once NCLT is satisfied, it admits the case and appoints an interim insolvency resolution professional (IRP) recommended by the bank. The Code permits 180 days for completing resolution process, with an extension of 90 days if needed.

*In case of a default of Rs 1 lakh or more, either the debtor or creditor has to make an application to NCLT, with proof of default. The Tribunal has to be satisfied that there has been a default. Once NCLT is satisfied, it passes an order stating the application has been admitted.

* Within a month, the IRP takes over the company, the promoters move out and the board of directors is suspended. The IRP becomes the de facto MD. The company’s management reports to him. In addition, he also makes a public announcement inviting claims from people to whom the company owes money. Once claimants come, he makes a list and forms a Committee of Creditors (CoC), which gets the real authority and decides if it wants to continue with the IRP or get a new one. This has to happen in a month.

* The IRP runs the company with the approval of CoC on major decisions. He also prepares a memorandum inviting resolution plans and sends it to stakeholders. The CoC has to approve the resolution plan within 180 days, with 75% majority. This is then sent to NCLT for its nod, which assesses if due process was followed.

*But if the CoC feels a resolution plan is not workable, or if it does not pass the resolution in 180 days, then the company goes for liquidation.

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