[BREAKING] "Collusion between NOIDA and builder:" Supreme Court orders demolition of twin towers of Supertech, reimbursement to flat owners

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a 2014 verdict of the Allahabad High Court directing the demolition of the 40-storey twin tower building of Supertech Limited's Emerald Court project..A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah ordered that the demolition of the twin towers should be completed within three months and the builder has to bear the expenses for the same.Importantly, the Court ordered that all the flat owners in the twin towers should be reimbursed with 12 per cent interest. Pertinently, the top court also upheld the High Court direction to sanction prosecution of officials of New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) for colluding with the builder to violate Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act 1976 and UP Apartments Act 2010..The order was passed after the Court concluded that the sanction given by NOIDA in November 2009 for the twin towers was violative of minimum distance requirements and national building code.The Court said that the case is replete with instances of collusion between NOIDA and the builder and illegal construction of twin towers was achieved by such collusion."The record of this case is replete with instances which highlight the collusion between the officers of NOIDA with the appellant and its management. The case has revealed a nefarious complicity of the planning authority in the violation by the developer of the provisions of law," the judgment said..The suggestion that the twin towers from part of one block was an afterthought, the Court further said..The Court also noted that the rampant increase in unauthorized constructions across urban areas, particularly in metropolitan cities where soaring values of land place a premium on dubious dealings, has been noticed in several previous decisions of the Supreme Court."This state of affairs has often come to pass in no small a measure because of the collusion between developers and planning authorities," the judgment stated..It is the diverse and unseen group of flat buyers who suffers the impact of the unholy nexus between builders and planners, the Court added. "Their quality of life is affected the most. Yet, confronted with the economic might of developers and the might of legal authority wielded by planning bodies, the few who raise their voices have to pursue a long and expensive battle for rights with little certainty of outcomes," the top court said. The Court, therefore, held that appellant Supertech has raised false pleas and attempted to mislead the Court, while the officials of NOIDA have not acted bona fide in the discharge of their duties. "The appellant has stooped to the point of producing a fabricated sanctioned plan. Therefore, we confirm the directions of the High Court including the order of demolition and for sanctioning prosecution under Section 49 of the UPUD Act, as incorporated by Section 12 of the UPIAD Act 1976, against the officials of the appellant and the officers of NOIDA for violations of the UPIAD Act 1976 and UP Apartments Act 2010," the Court ordered..Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for the builder. Senior Advocate Jayant Bhushan appeared for advocate for the Resident Welfare Association. Advocate Gaurav Agarwal served as the Amicus Curiae Advocate Abraham Mathews appeared for homebuyers.Advocates Ajay Bhargava and Trishala Trivedi, from Khaitan & Co appeared for homebuyers in the subvention scheme..[ Read Judgment ]