Very few builders come forward to partially clear their dues with Noida authority

NOIDA: Not many developers in the city have come forward to partially clear their dues before the Noida Authority, a move that could have eased a stalemate over registry of flats.

According to a rough estimate, around 50,000 buyers are awaiting registry of their flats because of this impasse over the way dues of the developers should be calculated by the Authority. A hearing on the rate of interest was scheduled in the Supreme Court on Monday, but it was adjourned.

At a meeting attended by the chief secretary, Noida Authority officials and developers on March 15, the builders had agreed to make part payments to clear the registry logjam. The Authority had also agreed to calculate the dues in keeping with SBI’s MCLR and make adjustments when the Supreme Court gives its directive on the interest rate.

“At the meeting, the developers were urged to make partial payments to settle their dues. We are ready to accept partial payments, but we are yet to hear from them or get the money,” said Ritu Maheshwari, the chief executive officer of the Noida Authority.

Officials said they were yet to recover more than Rs 10,000 crore in dues from the developers.

The Authority had earlier this month identified 10,060 flats for immediate registry provided the builders cleared the dues. Of them, 9,476 flats are in projects owned by Amrapali Group. The remaining 584 flats are spread out across 13 group housing projects.

To expedite the registry process, the Authority had on February 10 decided to organise special camps and had even requested the stamp and registration department to ask its officials to work on Sundays and holidays.

Shiv Kumar Tripathi, assistant inspector-general of the department, said the move had led to a 20% increase in the number of registries. “That is largely because of the special camps being organised on holidays and Sundays. However, a number of buyers have asked for more time to arrange for the funds. This way, it will take several months to execute the registry of more than 10,000 properties that have been given the green signal in the city,” he added.

RK Arora, president of NAREDCO in the state, an association of developers, said the Authority was yet to respond on the calculation of dues in keeping with the SBI MCLR and allowing registry on a pro-rata basis. “But within the next few days, the developers will come forward and pay some amount to the Authority to set things into motion,” he assured.