Greater Noida: NCLT lets RG Group finish project, first flats ready in 2.5 years

NOIDA: A group housing project in Greater Noida west that went into insolvency in September
2019 saw its first flats being delivered to homebuyers on Thursday.
At a time when buyers and operational creditors are increasingly going to the bankruptcy court
against real estate projects, this is among the few to have charted a path to completion. And in
quick time.
A group of homebuyers had moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against the
developer because of the delay in handing over flats at RG Luxury Homes, where work had
stopped in 2016. The project has around 1,700 homebuyers.

In February 2020, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ordered a “reverse
CIRP (corporate insolvency resolution process)”, directing the project’s developer to work with
the interim resolution professional (IRP) instead of bringing in another company. But the NCLTappointed IRP subsequently resigned. A new IRP was appointed and the work to revive the
project began only in July 2021.
On Thursday, the IRP handed over keys to 17 homebuyers for fit-outs with the promise that 800
buyers will get their flats in the next three months. The remaining flats are likely to be delivered
by March 2023, according to the IRP.
RG Group launched the project in 2010 on 18.5 acres of land with a total of 13 residential
towers comprising 2- and 3-BHK flats. In 2016, when construction work stopped, only the outer
structures of nine towers were complete, according to homebuyers.
“The subsequent years were a nightmare. Around 1,700 people had booked flats in the project
and were paying EMIs. We staged protests outside the promoter’s office and raised our voice on
every possible platforms but did not get any resolution. In 2019, a group of over 550
homebuyers formed RG Jan Kalyan Samiti to fight the case. We moved NCLT,” said Umesh
Narang, treasurer of the Samiti.
Narang, who booked a 3-BHK flat in the project, was the first person to get the keys to his flat on
Thursday. He was all praise for IRP Manoj Kulshrestha, gushing that his work was nothing short
of “magic”. “There is hardly any example of such an insolvency case where a project is getting
completed so soon,” Narang said.
Construction began with a new timeline submitted by the promoter, with a committed source of
funds.
Kulshrestha said, “In the present scenario of real estate projects going to NCLT and prolonged
resolution processes, the resolution of RG Luxury Homes was a challenging task. The
judiciary’s support through this order gave a wonderful result. A hybrid kind of order not only
rescued the project but also restored the faith of homebuyers and other stakeholders.”
“We held meetings with bankers, IIFL and Indiabulls, promoters and allottees to discuss the way
forward. An initial loan of Rs 27 crore that came from IIFL (Rs 15 crore) and Indiabulls were
used to revive the project. IIFL remained with us throughout the project and gave all the required
support. The developer sold some inventory as well as some of its assets to inject money into
the project. There were ups and down but we are on the right track,” he added.
Himanshu Garg, group director, RG Group said, “This is a milestone and will show the way for a
new era of finding new resolutions and revival solutions for the other stalled projects. We are
thankful to the Indian judicial system for allowing us to work on the project in the interest of our
existing homebuyers.”