NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled the RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) registration of the Amrapali Group and directed the Enforcement Directorate to conduct a probe against the group for diverting homebuyers money.

The bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra also ordered the central and the UP governments to take stock of all pending projects across the country and ensure homebuyers' interests are protected.

In its crackdown on real estate companies, the court also ordered money laundering cases to be registered against the Amrapali group MD and CMD.

State-run builder NBCC has been engaged to complete pending projects.

The top court today made it clear that lender banks in Noida as well as Greater Noida authorities cannot raise claim over Amrapali housing projects. It said no other party can claim stake in housing projects of Amrapali as they belong to homebuyers and banks and Noida authorities can recover their money after the group's other properties are sold through auction.

The Supreme Court had on May 10 reserved its verdict in the matter after Noida and Greater Noida authorities said they don't have the resources and expertise to construct the stalled projects of he Amrapali Group. Both the authorities had favoured handing over the properties to a reputed builder under the supervision of a high powered committee.

The authorities had expressed inability to take any action like cancellation of lease agreements against the group, which regularly defaulted on payments, due to "bulk of home buyers" and "political weight".

Both the authorities told the apex court that they have outstanding of around Rs 5,000 crore from Amrapali towards the principal amount and interest component, besides the penal interest.

