News: Supreme Court Seeks Plan for 22,000 Unitech Buyers-29-04-2026
The Supreme Court on April 29 said its objective is to ensure that 22,000 homebuyers of the ailing Unitech Ltd get their homes, and asked the Centre-appointed board of the group, banks and financial institutions to suggest an amicable resolution of the long-pending dispute.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan asked counsel for the homebuyers and the land-owning agencies to submit a two-page note of suggestions within a week. Three asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) and seven banks and financial institutions were also asked to propose measures. The bench noted that total outstanding against the company is Rs 14,129.85 crore. It said it had thought of a solution and listed the matter after a week to pass orders in the case, pending since 2016.
Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, appearing for the Unitech board of directors, referred to the financial difficulties and roadblocks it faces. He asked that the present board be allowed to withdraw and a new board take over. When the bench asked where the homebuyers’ money had gone, he said the former promoters parked it in tax-haven countries.
Earlier, the bench had said it would take a serious view of non-compliance with its orders by state authorities and cautioned them against creating hurdles for the stalled projects.
On January 16 last year, the court exempted Unitech housing projects in seven states from registration under RERA to dispense with procedural requirements for releasing loans to homebuyers. Under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, every project of more than 500 sqm or more than eight apartments must be registered. The court had also issued notices to banks and financial institutions that had declared buyers’ loan accounts non-performing assets (NPA). This was on a plea by Unitech, which said lenders had stopped paying balance dues when projects stalled and should resume disbursal now that the projects had been revived.
On October 22, 2024, the court allowed the board to seek police assistance against "impediments" created by third parties on the firm’s properties. On January 20, 2020, it had allowed the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to take "total management control" of Unitech, and permitted the board to raise funds due from homebuyers, sell unsold and unclaimed inventory and monetise unencumbered assets to complete housing units.
In 2017, the Centre had moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to suspend the then directors and take over management, but withdrew the proposal after the top court stayed the move. In 2018, the court ordered a forensic audit of Unitech Ltd, its sister concerns and subsidiaries by Samir Paranjpe, partner, forensic and investigation services at M/s Grant Thornton India.
The audit report said that under erstwhile promoters Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra, Unitech received around Rs 14,270 crore from 29,800 homebuyers, mostly between 2006 and 2014, and around Rs 1,805 crore from six financial institutions for 74 projects. About Rs 5,063 crore of homebuyers’ money and around Rs 763 crore of institutional funds were not utilised by the company, and high-value investments were made in tax-haven countries between 2007 and 2010.
