By: Ravi Sinha
The real estate developers who have been affected by the Supreme Court verdict on Shahberi village demand Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) to compensate them. They are negotiating with the Authority to compensate for their loss, either monetary or through allotment of alternate land.
They claim to have suffered a whopping loss of around Rs. 500-600 crores. However, they are now demanding the Authority to look beyond 156 acre of land coming under the Supreme Court judgment that was planned to have 6000 flats. They have approached the Authority to look into unauthorized colony mushrooming in and around Noida Extension.
At a press conference on Thursday, July 14, the Western UP chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) blamed the government for the mess. The affected realtors claim the experience has made them wiser and CREDAI monitoring cell is now studying the legality of all other plots in the Noida Extension.
“We have formed a legal section in CREDAI for future due diligence. Since the precedence has been that the land given by the government has been clean, we never anticipated it. It is not possible also for an average builder to do threadbare analysis of 1894 Land Acquisition Act. But henceforth we will do our own due diligence,” said Anil Sharma, CMD of Amrapali Group, one of the worst affected realtor in the Noida Extension.
Shrugging off any responsibility for the farmers’ agitation Sharma said Noida and Greater Noida Authority don’t permit the builders to buy land directly by farmers. He added those buyers who are ready to shift have already been offered to shift.
All the affected realtors coming under the banner of CREDAI claim there is a consensus to refund the investors money with interest. They are seeking legal opinion on the “appropriate interest,” to be given, as directed by the Supreme Court.
On being asked why banks have suddenly stopped releasing payment to projects in Noida Extension, Sharma said, “Bank loan to projects in Noida extension is not an issue, only banks are staying out of Shahberi plots.”
However, the affected builders could not give a timeline till when will they settle dispute with the buyers. “There can’t be any timeline for settling the dispute. For us, time starts now. But we can’t say when will it be settled,” said Sharma.
