New Delhi, Dec 2 The Attorney General (AG) of India, R. Venkataramani, submitted before the Supreme Court on Friday that it may have to pass an order to hand over the management of Amrapali housing project to the Uttar Pradesh government.
The AG, who was appointed as court receiver by the apex court, submitted before a bench comprising justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M. Trivedi that the court may have to pass an order to hand over the management of Amrapali housing project to the Uttar Pradesh government.
He indicated that the financial woes associated with the financing of unfinished housing projects are complex.
The bench scheduled the matter for further hearing on December 8.
Earlier, Venkataramani had proposed to sell the unused and additional floor area ratio (FAR) in Amrapali housing projects to raise funds for the completion of unfinished projects.
Senior advocate Ravindra Kumar, representing the Noida and Greater Noida authorities, had vehemently opposed the proposal to sell the FAR, saying this process can create further dues.
In November, a bench headed by then Chief Justice U.U. Lalit had refused to pass any order on the sale of unused FAR in Amrapali housing projects as proposed by Venkatramani.
In view of the opposition to this plan by Noida and Greater Noida authorities, the apex court had left the matter for consideration for the next bench since the Chief Justice was retiring.
The sale of FAR was proposed to fetch over Rs 1,000 crore for the cash-starved Amrapali projects, which are being constructed by state-owned NBCC.
In the previous hearing in the matter, Kumar had told the apex court that the court receiver's proposal should be examined in light of the provisions of the lease deed, the building regulations, FAR utilised/sanctioned and actual construction at site, to find out whether any vacant land or FAR or both is available.
He had said that unused FAR in the existing projects should be used for construction purposes.
In July, the court receiver had told the apex court that there are many instances where a portion or part of land is lying unused and without any construction.
"In such cases, the available capacity of such portion of open land can be utilised in open market to generate sufficient resources for flat buyers' benefit. In his submission, the element of unused and unutilised FAR may as well be worth Rs 700 crore and if permission is granted by this court, the interested buyers may come forward for purchasing that component which is presently lying unutilised. This component in reality belongs to the home buyers and if sold, will help in carrying out construction of unfinished towers/flats," said the top court's order on July 25, recording the court receiver's submission.
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