Supertech Emerald Court residents say truth has prevailed

NOIDA: With the Supreme Court ordering demolition of Supertech’s 40-storey illegal twin towers in Noida Sector 93, residents of the realty firm’s Emerald Court on Tuesday said the truth has prevailed and their faith in the apex court has grown stronger. They heaved a sigh of relief that their decade-long legal battle came to an end with the top court ordering the demolition of the two illegal high-rise towers on their premises.

Residents said the housing project has 660 flats across 15 towers but in 2009 work started on the two towers, coming up in the violation of building by-laws but they were told the construction was part of a separate project.

“We, however, insisted on seeing drawings and approvals of the project which appeared to be huge and against rules stipulating a certain distance between two such structures.

“After several efforts, we got to see the drawings and were shocked after realising that we were being taken for a ride by the builder with brazen violation of rules,” former president S K Sharma of Emerald Court’s RWA told PTI.

After this, some of the residents in 2012 moved the Allahabad High Court, which ordered the demolition of the two towers two years later but the realtor challenged it in the Supreme Court.

An apex court bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah Tuesday said the April 11, 2014 verdict of the Allahabad High Court does not deserve any interference.

“Truth has prevailed and our faith in the Supreme Court has grown stronger. We had knocked all other doors over the years as we went against the influential builder,” the 74-year-old Sharma said.

Rachana Jain, another resident of Emerald Court, said the top court’s order has come as a victory for all residents who stood against wrong being done.

Her husband, late M K Jain, was part of the core legal committee of the housing society’s residents which had taken up the case against the builder in the court.

“There’s no doubt that he would have been very happy with this decision of the court,” she said, recalling her husband as a “brave man” who “fought injustice” for around a decade before succumbing to COVID-19 last year.

Noida and Greater Noida residents’ bodies also hailed the top court order, which slammed the local development authority for colluding with the builder.

Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Associations (NOFAA) president Rajiva Singh hailed the SC order as “indeed a landmark judgment” and a great win not only for the Emerald Court’s RWA team but the families of the entire home buyers’ community.

“The judgment leaves the buyers with immense confidence in the legal system of the country. This should be the beginning for the much-needed corrections in the system, the way our developers and the governing bodies operate,” Singh said.

Manish Kumar of the Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA) said the order is in favour of the residents and a “great blow” to Supertech Ltd and Noida Authority.

“The order also states that action is to be taken against erring officials of the Noida Authority and whosoever is found (or named) guilty, must be prosecuted and penalised heavily,” Kumar said.

The apex court has directed that the twin towers be demolished within three months and all demolition expenses are borne by Supertech, which, however, has said it would be moving the apex court for a review of its order.