Two lakh homebuyers pin registry hopes on panel

NOIDA: Homebuyers and developers in the city have pinned their hopes on an expert committee headed
by Amitabh Kant, who is currently the G20 sherpa, as it finalises its report on reviving stalled real estate
projects. The panel, also comprising representatives from central government and states, has submitted its report to
the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs. It has suggested changes to the insolvency law and a
moratorium on payment of land dues to the development authorities affected by stoppage of work for 4
years — due to the ban on activity around the Okhla Bird Sanctuary and Covid-related disruptions — to
help improve the finances of builders so that they can complete and hand over apartments to homebuyers.

Earlier this year, the Centre had set up the committee with a focus on examining stalled real estate
projects and proposing solutions to complete them. The committee’s objective was also to provide
benefits of possession and registry to homebuyers.
In their efforts to represent the interests of the homebuyers, officials from the UP government, including
infrastructure and industrial development commissioner Manoj Kumar Singh, and former CEO Ritu
Maheshwari have attended the meetings, lending their perspectives to the ongoing discussions. In
addition, Noida Extension Flat Owners’ Welfare Association president Abhishek Kumar has been
participating in the committee’s meetings.

In Gautam Budh Nagar, over 2 lakh homebuyers are waiting for the registration of their flats, while
30,000 buyers continue to wait for possession, leading to widespread frustration among buyers.
“Without registration, buyers feeling cheated. They do not have a tangible sense of property ownership. In
case of any structural defects or disputes, the occupants cannot claim their rights as ‘illegal’ occupiers.
They are unable to sell their flats too,” Kumar said.
While an option of paying financial dues per flat and executing registries exists, residents claim that
builders are seldom forthcoming to comply with this rule. The builders, on the other hand, contend
excessive penalty amounts imposed by the authorities hinder their ability to proceed with the registry
process.
CREDAI president (NCR) Manoj Gaur said during a meeting with the committe two months ago they
discussed measures such as de-linking of completion certificates from financial matters, seeking “zero
period” for disruptions caused by events like Covid, farmer’s agitation, and NGT orders, and policies for
co-developers among others.
“We also urged the committee to give direction to authorities to give relief to developers on the pending
dues by rationalising it and offer them a one-time settlement policy. Implementing these changes will
bring about tangible improvements on the ground,” Gaur added.
The Noida Authority alone has 115 group housing projects, with 59 defaulting builders causing dues of Rs
26,500 crore. At least 15 projects out of them are facing insolvency proceedings in the National Company
Law Tribunal (NCLT). There are approximately 1.5 lakh flats across these 115 projects, but only 52,000
flats have executed registries so far, leaving a significant number of homebuyers still waiting.
In Sports City — consisting of 74 projects with 35,000 flats — 15,000 flats are already occupied, but
registry permissions have not been granted.
The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authorityis overseeing 197 projects, with 135 defaulting on
their payments, leading to dues of Rs 14,500 crore. As many as 21 projects are undergoing insolvency
proceedings in the NCLT. Out of 1.8 lakh flats in GNIDA projects, about 1.1 lakh flats have executed
registries.
YEIDA has 14 projects, all facing defaults from builders, with dues of Rs 4,500 crore. Among these
projects, two are undergoing insolvency proceedings in the NCLT.