Noida: Frustrated with his experience of owning a house in Noida Extension, Pankaj Rai, who moved to his address three years ago, has coined a phrase to describe the city — “Noida Ek Tension”. The last EMI from his account has long been deducted but a registry certificate eludes him. His days are consumed by frequent visits to the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority office, endless calls to the builder, and organising protests to secure the legal document.
“I bought this 4BHK six years ago for Rs 80 lakh, and I’m still waiting for it to be registered. I’ve made hundreds of visits to GNIDA, but even they are helpless. Because the builder isn’t clearing the dues with the Authority,” said Rai, a resident of Ajnara Homes in Greater Noida West.
As per the New Era Flat Owners Welfare Association—a consortium of 60,000 distressed buyers—approximately 75,000 flats in Noida and Greater Noida are awaiting registration.
For years, frustrated homebuyers have staged protests—at Jantar Mantar, outside GNIDA offices, and locally at Noida Extension Golchakkar. In 2023, however, a glimmer of hope appeared. The Amitabh Kant committee—set up to examine the issues related to legacy stalled real estate projects—proposed solutions to expedite project completion and offered concessions to builders. Seen as a potential breakthrough, the Uttar Pradesh government adopted these recommendations — raising expectations for a resolution to the twin cities’ long-standing real estate crisis. However, a year has passed and not much has changed on the ground.
The GNIDA claimed they are pulling up the builders to clear dues. But the builders remain defiant citing financial constraints. And between the two are caught thousands of homebuyers whose homes hang in a great bureaucracy-builder limbo.
The GNIDA said they have registered around 10,000 flats in the last six months after the Uttar Pradesh government adopted suggestions made by a committee headed by former CEO of Niti Ayog Amitabh Kant that suggested ways to resolve issues hindering India’s real estate.
“We have implemented the Amitabh Kant report but we need to understand that this is a legacy issue, and the builders’ debts have been accumulating. We have tried to bring builders, homebuyers, and banks on the same page to expedite the process,” said Saumya Srivastava, Officer on Special Duty – Builder/Industries, at GNIDA.
Why hasn’t DLF entered Noida? DLF tried, but the processes are so convoluted, and litigation is so frequent, that they backed off. Even major players like Tata, Godrej, and Prestige are reluctant to invest.
Dinesh Gupta, CREDAI
While the homebuyers are now planning to carry out a car-bike rally, authorities have reached out to them and tried convincing their issues will be solved soon.
Rai, along with an army of a hundred residents from Ajnara Homes, is planning to take their fight to the High Court.
The non-registry of flats has tarnished the Noida-Greater Noida real estate market. Dinesh Gupta, secretary of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), Western Uttar Pradesh, said the chaotic processes and frequent litigation have driven major developers away.
“Why hasn’t DLF entered Noida? DLF tried, but the processes are so convoluted, and litigation is so frequent, that they backed off. Even major players like Tata, Godrej, and Prestige are reluctant to invest,” Gupta said.
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De-linking registry from the recovery
Dinkar Pandey prided himself on being one of the five members representing homebuyers in the Amitabh Kant Committee, formulated in 2023. His passionate presentation had highlighted the plight of homebuyers still waiting for the ownership of their flats in Noida and Greater Noida. It earned him the moniker “Guru ji” among his peers.
Every time a homebuyer visited his house in Ajnara Homes Greater Noida, Pandey would eagerly open his laptop and display the key sections of the report on his 72-inch television screen. His words of assurance kept distressed homebuyers hopeful.
But now, even Pandey’s hope seems to be faltering.
“The first and foremost suggestion given by the Amitabh Kant Committee report is regarding the de-linking of registration from the recovery of dues from developers but that ain’t happening,” lamented Pandey, scrolling documents in his laptop.
Nearly nine months after the Amitabh Kant report came out, on 21 December 2023, the Uttar Pradesh government announced a rehabilitation package, including suggestions from the Kant committee.
“The Uttar Pradesh govt report has diluted the clause for registry and has picked suggestions as per their convenience,” said Abhishek Kumar, President of NEFOWA.
NEFOWA has been raising issues faced by homebuyers across Noida and Greater Noida. The association has also held numerous meetings with GNIDA, and its members were also a part of the Amitabh Kant committee.
Abhishek Kumar, President of NEFOWA
The Amitabh Kant report had proposed that the registration of apartments should not be dependent on the recovery of dues from the builders. But the UP government introduced a 25 per cent payment clause, saying that the registration of flats will be contingent on the payment of 25 per cent of the outstanding dues of developers.
The homebuyer’s association said that payment of 25 per cent of the amount due by the builders isn’t guaranteeing registration of all flats in the project. The authorities are only registering flats proportionate to the payment.
Suresh Garg, MD of Nirala World, a real estate firm, told how the Authority is deciding the order and volume of the registry.
“If a project is valued at Rs 500 crore at current prices and the developer has already paid Rs 400 crore, the UP rehabilitation package requires the developer to pay 25 per cent of the remaining Rs 100 crore. However, instead of processing flat registrations based on the total Rs 425 crore paid, the authorities are registering flats proportionate for just Rs 25 crore,” said Garg, who claims all apartments in his Nirala Estate project in Greater Noida’s Techzone 4 are fully registered.
Garg attributed the delays to a lack of trust by authorities in developers to clear pending dues, leaving homebuyers stuck.
“Several meetings have taken place with the authority regarding this. But the reality is that the authority is fearful that once all the flats get registered, the builder won’t pay the dues. So, by keeping the registry issue boiling they are making builders pay,” said Garg over the phone.
Authorities in Greater Noida and Noida, however, said that they can’t proceed without partial payments from the developers.
“We are self-sustaining authorities, and we rely on payments from developers to operate. We need them to clear a part of the dues before initiating flat registrations,” said an official at the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority on condition of anonymity. A senior official from GNIDA told ThePrint that the authority was under a huge debt of Rs 4,000 crore due to non-realisation of dues.
The authorities told ThePrint the flats are selected based on their completion order, with the earliest finished flats being prioritised.
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Response to rehabilitation package
It took Saumya Srivastava three months to bring buyers, builders, and banks together to discuss and implement the UP government’s rehabilitation package based on the Amitabh Kant report. Srivastava said dealing with legacy projects burdened by massive loans made uniting homebuyers and builders particularly challenging.
It started with getting a Chartered Accountant to calculate the dues on builders and reconcile them, said Srivastava.
“Once the dues were calculated, meetings were held with homebuyers and the developers to make them understand that the UP rehabilitation package was brought to expedite registry and make work easier for both home buyers and developers.”
To kickstart stalled projects, the authority also approached financial institutions like SWAMIH (Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing) Investment Funds earlier this year. This social impact fund was created by the central government specifically to finance and complete stressed and stalled real estate projects across the country. SWAMIH was asked to see as to which projects were viable and if they could assist timely delivery of the projects which were long delayed, added Srivastava.
Some projects are bankrupt and under the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), while in other cases, builders are unwilling to clear their dues. Prominent names like ATS and Supertech are among those entangled in NCLAT proceedings.
“That’s when discussions on how to defuse the situation began,” Srivastava said.
The rehabilitation package offered several concessions to builders, the most significant being a two-year waiver on interest for the Covid period.
The UP rehabilitation package was accepted by 78 projects out of the 98 pending in the region.
However, registering a flat involves clearing several checks. Builders must first secure a series of approvals, including completion and occupancy certificates, as well as No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from various departments.
“There are six certificates that builders must obtain from the planning department,” Srivastava said. “These include structural, air, and fire safety certifications, among others. Only after these are issued can the authority grant an NOC and a partial completion certificate. That’s when a flat becomes eligible for registration.”
Some projects are bankrupt and under the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), while in other cases, builders are unwilling to clear their dues. Prominent names like ATS and Supertech are among those entangled in NCLAT proceedings.
Builders blame authorities and the state government for this limbo.
“The entire problem boils down to the defaults committed by builders,” said Gupta. “But we can’t just highlight the problem; we need solutions. Only the state government and the authorities can address this.”
Meanwhile, authorities are pulling up the builders who are unwilling to abide by the package. “We are warning builders that if they don’t come forward, we will take punitive action against them,” Srivastava said.
“Even Yogi ji is personally invested in resolving homebuyers’ issues.”
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Builder woes
Project dues are linked to the non-registry of flats but a clause that penalises them for late delivery, according to developers, is making things difficult for them—and not helping buyers. They said it’s making projects financially unviable.
The Managing Director of a reputed real estate firm, invested in a dozen projects in both Greater Noida and Noida—including commercial ventures—highlighted “time extension” as the main point of contention between builders and the authorities.
“Time extension charges mean that you are given a certain timeframe to complete your project. If you don’t finish within that time, the authorities levy steep charges on the developer, which add up to a significant amount. Unfortunately, the Amitabh Kant report didn’t address any relief for time extension charges,” he said.
This developer explained that although he had paid 25 per cent of the dues, the registration of all apartments in one of his projects remains pending.
“Most builders have paid 25 per cent of the land dues, and the registry process has started. But there has been a disagreement regarding the time extension charges,” said the developer, who has been holding regular meetings with the authorities.
Developers are accusing government-related disruptions of being a key reason for delays in projects.
Another developer, who too wished to remain anonymous, cited issues such as farmers demanding additional compensation for their land and basic infrastructure problems, including the absence of access roads to the acquired land.
“We are asking for relief in time extension charges and lease rent. For instance, if land for a project was originally allotted for Rs 100 crore, delays caused by disruptions have compounded the interest over time. Today, the dues on the same land might be Rs 350 crore. The Amitabh Kant report gave us a two-year waiver, but the outstanding dues remain enormous,” said the developer.
The developers said that they have been insisting authorities to delink registry from the outstanding dues so that the matter remains between authorities and the builders.
“We are saying that we will do this solution finding between us (builders) and the authorities but let’s not stop the registries where 25 per cent of the dues have been paid as per the Amitabh Kant report. Let’s continue the registration.”
Meanwhile, a WhatsApp group of distressed Ajnara buyers has now become a space for sharing legal contacts and strategies to resolve registry woes. While some members advocate protests outside Parliament, others suggest gathering at Jantar Mantar, and a few believe meeting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath might be the only way to get their voices heard.
“This was my first experience of a high rise and this will be the last. I can’t even sell this flat because no one will buy an unregistered flat,” said Rai.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)