In a major happening that has put the fate of 25,000 buyers in limbo, Supertech, one of the largest real estate groups of Delhi-NCR has gone into insolvency. The declaration came as the Delhi bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted a petition filed by the Union Bank of India for non-payment of dues. A report by SURFACES REPORTER.
The issue
Supertech Ltd, once a rising star of the realty scenario of the country with project such as North Eye (tallest residential project of North India) under its belt, has now gone into insolvency. The news has come as a major jolt for over 25,000 homebuyers who have booked their abodes in Supertech projects pending at various stages and are awaiting possession since many years.
The NCLT has appointed Hitesh as the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) for Supertech under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The tribunal had reserved its order in the case on March 17, 2022 after the one time settlement proposed by Supertech was rejected by the bank and arguments were heard.
While there is no clarity on Supertech's dues to the lenders, the company in a statement said that will be appealing in NCLAT against the order.
The statement further said,"In the matter of appointment of IRP in one of the Supertech Group Companies, by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), management of the Company stated that the Company will be approaching NCLAT in appeal against the order as the matter belongs to a financial creditor. In the interest of homebuyers, preference was given to construction and delivery of projects over repayment of bank dues which can be fulfilled after project completion. As all the projects of the Company are financially viable, there is no chance of loss to any party or financial creditor. The order will not affect operations of any other Supertech Group Company."
In addition, the company has pressed that there will be 'no effect' of the NCLT order on the ongoing construction or operations of the company and that it is committed to deliver around 7000 units by December 2022.
"We have a strong record of delivering more than 40000 Flats during the last 7 years and we shall continue to give delivery to our buyers under our “Mission Completion – 2022” under which we have undertaken a target of delivering 7000 Units by December, 2022," the statement read.
Don't panic, file your claim
Experts said that the homebuyers, who have booked their flats with Supertech must immediately file their claims with IRP as required by the law instead of creating panic. In an interview, Piyush Singh, Partner of PSP Legal, which had filed several petitions before Delhi High Court and NCLT against Supertech, said, "The homebuyers who had booked their apartments with Supertech should not panic but immediately file their claim with IRP as required under the law."
The Dire State of Supertech
While the notable builder was once shining in glory around few years back, its downturn started as soon as it lost the case against the RWA of Emerald Court Twin Towers and the Supreme Court ordered the demolition of the 40-storey towers for violation of building norms.
In the fateful judgment, the court also directed the developer to pay entire investment of 633 homebuyers who had booked flats in the twin towers be refunded with 12 percent interest from the time of the booking. The court also directed Supertech to pay the RWA of Emerald Court project Rs 2 crore for the harassment caused due to the construction of the twin towers, which would have blocked sunlight and fresh air to the existing residents of the housing project.
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