New Delhi: A Chennai-based Unitech homeowners’ association has addressed a letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, appealing to him to adjudicate the long-pending case related to the real estate company’s unfinished housing projects.
Posted to the CJI’s office last week, the letter—a copy of which is with ThePrint—talks about the “mental agony” of homebuyers owing to the uncertainty that has arisen due to the unresolved status of the case in the top court.
The letter was prepared following the annual general body meeting of the Uniworld Chennai Owners Association. According to the body, eight Unitech projects are pending in Chennai while three are pending in Bengaluru.
The letter says “nearly 13,000 families” are in a state of “unprecedented mental agony” and “financial turmoil”. The plight of senior citizens is worse due to their advanced age and vulnerabilities, it adds.
“We look up to the Supreme Court as the beacon of hope for justice, and we believe that your leadership can bring an end to this prolonged ordeal. We kindly request you to consider our plea and take necessary steps to accelerate the proceedings, thereby providing much-needed relief to thousands of struggling families,” the letter says.
As reported earlier by ThePrint, the matter of Unitech’s stalled projects has been pending in the Supreme Court since 2018. Even though a new board of directors took over the company’s affairs in 2020 following the top court’s order, there is little progress on ground as far as the construction of flats is concerned.
Speaking to ThePrint, Iyarappan B, president of the association, said: “Before the SC took charge of the matter, the old board (of directors of Unitech) had shown some progress in construction. With the SC taking over, it (the case) has like totally stalled for us. I cannot blame the SC only. But it’s painful. There are no construction updates, especially for projects in Chennai and Bengaluru.”
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‘Constant state of uncertainty’
According to the website maintained by the new board of Unitech, though tenders for construction were awarded for 71 of the 81 incomplete residential projects, work has started for only 29. Similarly, tenders were awarded for work in nine of 10 commercial sites, but work has started for only eight. Records show the tenders were allotted in the last eight months.
The original plan proposed 18,786 residential units and 1,860 commercial units. Today, nearly 10,000 homebuyers are waiting for possession of flats, whereas the bulk have stuck to their demand for refund.
December 2023 was the last time the top court bench, led by then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, gave an effective order in the case of pending Unitech projects, when it permitted the new board to issue tenders for construction work. Thereafter, though the case was listed more than a dozen times, the only time it was heard was in April this year.
On that day, the court, after a brief hearing, settled a long-pending dispute between Unitech’s new board of directors and the Noida and Greater Noida authorities over clearances of their dues.
The bench asked Unitech to pay the two authorities for the units the company wanted to construct now, and not for the additional floors that would be possible once the FAR (floor area ratio) is increased.
The association’s letter, referring to the top court’s intervention in the matter and constitution of the new board for Unitech, said that action had borne no results and the construction process had been severely hampered due to continuous delays in court hearings.
“As per the current situation, every major step in the building proceedings requires the Supreme Court’s approval, which further prolongs the timeline and leaves homebuyers in a constant state of uncertainty,” it says.
‘Families have been paying both EMIs and rent’
Complaining about the neglected projects, the association said the buildings were in a stalled and incomplete state. The aggrieved homebuyers also expressed their discontent with the top court order that ruled out payment of compensation for delayed delivery of flats.
They pointed out that the original construction agreements provided for delay compensation, which would have offered some relief to the affected buyers. But the top court’s orders had deprived homebuyers of this critical financial support.
“This decision has added to the financial burden on families who have been paying both EMIs and rent for several years, without any respite. Given the dire circumstances faced by the homebuyers, many of whom are senior citizens enduring unprecedented mental stress and financial burden, we humbly request your intervention to expedite the hearing process,” the letter states.
Iyarappan told ThePrint that “while we have paid penalty for missing due dates, by some days, in depositing our instalments, we are losing out on account of the SC order. We are not encouraged to expect compensation for delayed possession of our flats, unlike other buyers who are getting this amount from other builders.”
The letter further says: “The continued delay not only exacerbates our difficulties but also raises safety concerns for the stalled structures that have been left unattended for years.” It “requests” the CJI to take cognisance of the “severe distress” faced by the homebuyers.
The letter mentions that “the continuous delays have only deepened the crisis, and a speedy verdict is the need of the hour to restore the faith of the common citizen in the judicial system”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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