New Delhi, Jan 20 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order directing a CBI investigation into alleged illegal conversion of residential land to raise the swanky Ambience Mall in Haryana’s Gurugram.
It was alleged that 18.98 acres of land on Delhi-Jaipur national highway in Gurugram earmarked for Ambience Lagoon Island Residential Complex was reduced to just 7.9 acres with a commercial complex erected on the remaining land.
The top court held the direction given by the high court to the CBI for registering an FIR was also uncalled for as the said direction was given on unverified and inconclusive material.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Sandeep Mehta said the impugned judgment dated July 10, 2020, rendered by the high court is unsustainable in facts and in law.
The apex court, however, clarified that proceedings pending before the high court on other connected issues would not be affected by its judgement.
“We are of the firm view that the High Court has proceeded on a totally erroneous assumption that the residential colony was required to be developed over the entire 18.98 acres and not 10.98 acres. The above conclusion drawn is ex facie erroneous in face of the contract executed between the parties and the approved layout plan.
“The CBI registered the FIR and has since filed a report under Section 173(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. In the said report, the act of de-licensing of 8 acres of land has been found to be in accordance with law,” the bench said.
The apex court said it is an undisputed position that the construction of the Ambience Mall/Ambience Commercial Tower-I over an area of 8 acres of land and the Leela Ambience Hotel over an area of 4 acres of land commenced in 2002, and both the projects were completed somewhere in 2007-2008.
“The flats in Ambience Lagoon Residential Colony had been occupied in the beginning of this period and thus, the flat owners cannot be expected to be ignorant of the construction activities going on in the area appurtenant to the residential colony.
“The rank silence and utter indifference shown by the flat owners in taking any action for a period of almost a decade for the alleged violation of their rights creates a serious doubt on the bonafides of the actions of the writ petitioners,” the bench said.
The court said the present writ petition was filed in 2015, almost eight years after the Ambience Mall and the Leela Ambience Hotel were constructed and had become fully operational.
“In this backdrop, the gross delay in approaching the High Court constituted a material and decisive factor, which by itself ought to have disentitled the writ petitioners to any sort of discretionary relief under Article 226 of the Constitution.
“However, the High Court seems to have totally ignored this material aspect of the case which, in our opinion, goes to the root of the matter,” the bench said.
The top court also stayed an order of the National Green Tribunal which imposed an environmental compensation of Rs 10 crore on the developer for alleged construction in a green area.
Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Abhishek Manu Singhvi from litigation firm Karanjawala & Co appeared for Ambience group CMD Raj Singh Gehlot and the Ambience group.
The CBI had earlier booked Gehlot and companies Ambience Ltd and Ambience Developers and Infrastructure besides unidentified officials of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and Town and Country Planning Department.
The case is related to alleged illegal construction of commercial building at approximately 18.98 acre of land in Gurugram by blatantly flouting the building by-laws and statutory provisions in collusion with others.
The Ambience group runs Ambience Malls in NCR and luxury hotel The Leela Ambience Convention Centre, among other such real estate properties.
The petitioners had alleged before the high court that 18.98 acres of land on Delhi-Jaipur national highway earmarked for Ambience Lagoon Island Residential Complex was reduced to just 7.9 acres with a commercial complex erected on the remaining land.
They had alleged that such violation of the builder-buyer agreement and provisions of Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Area Act, 1975 was not possible without the collusion of officials and builders. PTI PKS PKS KVK KVK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.