SC appoints former judge Justice AM Sapre to assist Unitech board of management in sale of assets

The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed former judge, Justice AM Sapre to assist the board of management of real estate firm Unitech for the purpose of sale and monetization of the land assets.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah appointed retired Justice Sapre to ensure that the procedure which has been proposed to maintain transparency and for the realization of the best possible price of the assets which would fund the construction of units for homebuyers.

The bench in its order stated, "We accordingly request former Justice AM Sapre to assist the board of management in that regard under the auspices of the directions of this court. The proposed SOP which is formulated... shall be placed before Justice AM Sapre for his scrutiny and such modifications as may be considered in that regard."

The apex court also asked the Enforcement Directorate to file a status report on the steps taken by it to bring Rs 500 crore which has been siphoned off back to India as well as with regards to the attached assets.

In January 2020, the top court had allowed the Central government to take total management control of Unitech and appoint a new board of nominee directors to protect the interests of over 15,000 homebuyers.

It had approved the name of retired Haryana cadre IAS officer Yudvir Singh Malik as chairman and managing director (CMD) of the new board and directed that the existing board of directors of the company would stand superseded.

In 2018, the top court had directed a forensic audit of Unitech Ltd and its sister concerns and subsidiaries by Samir Paranjpe, Partner, Forensic and Investigation Services in Grant Thornton India.

The forensic auditors had submitted their report which said that Unitech Ltd received around Rs 14,270 crore from 29,800 home buyers from 2006-2014 and around Rs 1,805 crore from six financial institutions for the construction of 74 projects.

( With inputs from ANI )

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