Comply with Haryana RERA orders in a week or go to jail: Supreme Court to Parsvnath Developers

The Supreme Court recently came down heavily on Parsvnath Developers over its continued failure to comply with orders passed by the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA).

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing a plea filed by homebuyers of the Parsvnath Exotica project in Sector 53, Gurugram.

"Whole country has been duped by them. If you don't comply with the orders within a week, they will be sent to jail. They are making a mockery of the system. The same thing will happen to them, what happened with Unitech! Entire system has been hijacked," the CJI remarked.

Senior Advocate Priya Hingorani, appearing for the homebuyers, told the Court that she had expected the builder to bring the demand draft to court that day.

Counsel for the builder responded that the company had "a plan."

The CJI was in no mood to entertain this.

"No plan. Deposit and then talk. We are under Article 142, we are not concerned with IBC, insolvency etc," he said.

The Bench did not mince words while describing the builder's leadership either.

"We know these crook business persons. We don't want to say much...Let there be no misunderstanding about our order. The next step is jail. That is all."

On the compliance affidavit filed by the Haryana government, the CJI noted that it had only been filed the previous evening and was not tagged with the paper books. He directed that this be rectified immediately and asked the builder, which has entered appearance, to explain its non-adherence to HRERA's orders.

The Bench recorded that before executing the non-bailable warrants already issued against the builder, it was granting one last opportunity. The entire recoverable amount, along with interest of 12 per cent per annum, was to be deposited with the Supreme Court registry within a week.

The matter has been posted for next Monday, with the Court making it clear that everything will continue to remain frozen till then.

The dispute traces back to a plea filed by homebuyers Rita Tikku, a cancer survivor, and Lokaish Tikku, who were allotted units in the Parsvnath Exotica project in 2006 and signed a flat buyer agreement in 2007. Despite paying the full sale consideration of around ₹1.78 crore, possession, originally due in 2013, was never handed over.

HRERA had ruled in the homebuyers' favour in 2021, ordering compensation, but the builder neither challenged the order nor complied with it. Even arrest warrants issued by HRERA were never executed. The Court was told that a bailiff was once prevented from entering the developer's premises without effective assistance from local police.

Taking a serious view of the conduct of State authorities, the Supreme Court had earlier this month ordered the immediate freezing of the bank accounts of Parsvnath Developers, Parsvnath Hessa Developers and the personal accounts of their directors, besides issuing bailable warrants against the company's leadership.

[Read Order]