NCLT allows insolvency plea against builder of La Residentia in Greater Noida West

NOIDA: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has allowed an insolvency plea against
the developer of La Residentia in Greater Noida West over its failure to clear dues of Rs 28.07
lakh that it owes an operational creditor.
The tribunal allowed the petition filed by Singhal Pipes on May 25 this year and appointed
Naveen Kumar Jain as interim resolution professional (IRP). Singhal Pipes, which filed the plea
in January 2020, claimed La Residentia did not clear its dues despite several demand notices.
The initiation of insolvency resolution means La Residentia buyers will now join hundreds of
others in Noida, where several realtors have been dragged to the insolvency court in recent
months. La Residentia buyers have time till June 8 to file their claims.

La Residentia, a consortium of which Amrapali is a part, was launched in 2013 with around
3,250 flats in 39 towers. According to residents, the project was to be developed in three phases
– towers 1 to 19 in the first phase, 20 to 29 in the second phase and 30 to 39 in the final phase.
So far, 1,400 flats in the first phase have been built and around 1,200 families live on the
compound. The other towers are in various stages of construction. However, only around 600
homebuyers have been able to register their properties.
The project was included in the ongoing case related to Amrapali in the Supreme Court as the
company had a stake of 19.75% in this project. Besides Amrapali, there are three partners in La
Residentia. Sumil Jalota, a resident, said, “Some buyers had in 2019 filed an interlocutory
application in the Supreme Court requesting the project to be considered as an Amrapali project
and handed over to the NBCC for construction. The other three group partners had told the
court they would complete the project as Amrapali’s stake was below 20%. They also told the
court they would hand over flats to Amrapali after deducting the construction cost.”
The court decided in 2021 that 632 flats would go into Amrapali’s kitty, and the other developers
would sell those flats, deduct the construction cost and hand over the remaining corpus to
Amrapali. The developers sought an advance from Amrapali, but the court rejected that during
the last hearing in May. The SC also directed the developers to get the project approved again
by UP-Rera as its registration had expired in 2021. Homebuyers expressed astonishment that
they would have to go through a lengthy resolution process over just Rs 28 lakh.

Kulbhushan Rai Bajaj, one of the directors of La Residentia, told TOI on Tuesday, “We are
working towards resolving the issue. We have visited the UP-Rera office and plan to go to the
Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority.” Bajaj claimed the developer had received “no
cooperation” in carrying out the construction work of 632 flats.