Noida developers plan to meet Yogi over land dues

Real estate developers decided to approach Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday, demanding that latter address the issue of housing land cost dues. The developers are seeking a one-time settlement scheme to resolve the issue.

At least 100 developers held a meeting in Sector 62 on Tuesday and drafted a memorandum to be given to the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary, the union ministry of finance and chief executive officer of the Noida and the Greater Noida authorities.

“The state government and the twin authorities, Noida and Greater Noida, must come up with a comprehensive scheme to address the prevailing issues…The developers said the 15-23% compound interest will increase the final amount…much higher than the current market rate of land cost. In that case, we might have to take recourse to NCLT. Moreover, since occupancy and completion certificates are linked to the clearance of dues, 1.5lakh buyers will not be able to register their homes,” said Manoj Gaur, president, Credai NCR (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India, National Capital Region) and chairman and managing director, Gaur Group.

The Supreme Court on November 7 clarified that its order capping the interest rate at 8% is applicable only to Amrapali projects, which are being completed by state-owned National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) since June 2019. All other builders, the top court said, will have to pay their land cost dues at interest rates calculated by the two authorities.

There are at least 150,000 homebuyers in 100 realty projects in Noida and 90 in Greater Noida, who are unable to execute their flat registries because builders defaulted on land cost payments to the tune of 7,000 crore in Noida and 7,000 crore in Greater Noida.

The developers prepared a six-point agenda that will be given to the state government and the twin authorities to find a solution to the key issues. The issues, according to the developers, are: housing land parcels allotted to them did not have clear titles due to financial default, national green tribunal orders pertaining to Noida’s Okhla Bird sanctuary disrupted construction activities, the settlement of the farmers’ compensation issue, approach roads to housing plots, lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity, as promised by the authorities, did not materialise within the stipulated time, delay in approvals of layout of Noida Extension hampered the construction and developers’ demands were not met with. The developers said that if their demands are not met, then most of the realtors will go bankrupt and end up filing pleas in the national company law tribunal (NCLT).

Ritu Maheshwari, chief executive officer of Noida and Greater Noida, said, “We will look into all default cases of the realty sector and taking action in according to the terms of the lease deed by issuing notices. If the defaulters will not pay within 15 days from the time when the notice is issued, then we will cancel the allotment.”