Sink or die but you have to return money to investors: SC tells Supertech

business

Updated: Sep 07, 2016 11:20 IST

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a stern warning to Supertech, saying it was not concerned whether the real estate major “sinks or dies”, while asking it to refund money to home buyers who were no longer keen to hold on to their flats in a project in Noida.

“Wether you (Supertech) sink or die, we are not concerned. You will have to pay back the money to home buyers. We are least bothered about the financial status,” a bench of justices Dipak Misra and Adarsh Kumar Goel said when it was pointed out that builders did not have funds to pay back consumers.

The SC directed the company to pay 10% per month of the invested amount from January 5, 2015 to the buyers within four weeks. Seventeen buyers have filed a petition before the court, complaining Supertech is refusing to refund the money they paid for buying flats in the Emerald Towers project.

The company will have to submit a chart of payments to the court before the next hearing, which is October 25.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for Supertech, said the SC cannot “act like a banker” and has to follow principle of equality.

“Not all home buyers are against us and some of them have even supported the firm and filed an appeal against the high court order,” Dhawan said. “There is a difference between Unitech’s case and us. They did not have a building while we have a building and funds invested with us have been used for construction of structure,” Dhawan argued, attempting to convince the court.

He informed the bench that of the 628 persons, 274 had been given alternate arrangements. Seventy-four had asked for re-investment and 108 have sought a refund.

To this, the bench asked why Supertech was not giving back the money to all the investors.

Dhawan said there was a court order, saying only those who have applied on time will get the money back and it was paying back the money to them.

Counsels for home buyers refuted Supertech’s claim and said they were not getting the money on time.

(With inputs from PTI)