New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday directed demolition of twin 40-storey towers of Supertech’s Emerald Court project in Noida for violation of building by-laws.
The apex court directed that the entire amount of homebuyers be refunded with 12% interest from the time of booking and the Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA) be paid Rs 2 crore for the harassment caused due to the construction of the twin towers.
A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah said that April 11, 2014 verdict of the Allahabad high court, which directed demolition of twin towers, does not deserve any interference.
It said the construction of Supertech’s twin 40 storey towers having 915 flats and shops was done in collusion with Noida (New Okhla Industrial Development Area) authority and the Allahabad high court was correct in holding that view. The high court had passed the judgement while hearing a writ petition of the Emerald Court Owners RWA, which alleged that the approval and construction of the two towers was “in complete violation of the UP Apartment Acts”.
“This construction dilutes safety standards (and) illegalities have to be dealt with strictly. (The) sanction given by Noida authorities is violative of building regulations… goes against minimum distance requirements between towers… fire safety norms have been violated… garden area was violated to construct the towers,” the apex court said, as per an NDTV report.
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However, Vikas Singh, the lawyer representing the firm, had said, “We have followed the minimum distance criteria, followed the fire safety norms and all other parameters. There was no illegality as canvassed by the home buyers.”
The top court bench said that the demolition exercise of the twin towers be carried out within three months under the supervision of Noida Authority and an expert agency, and the cost of the entire exercise has to be borne by Supertech Ltd.
The top court said that recently it has seen rampant unauthorised construction in metropolitan areas in collusion with planning authorities and it has to be dealt with sternly.
According to the report, in the previous hearing, the top court had also demanded to know why and how the Noida authorities, in their “eternal wisdom”, permitted large construction projects such as this in a designated ‘green area’.
(With inputs from PTI)