New Delhi, OCT 15 :
To ensure speedy disposal of attached properties of now defunct Amrapali Group of Companies and its directors, the Supreme Court on Monday brought the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation (MSTC) to auction them and deposit the cash with the apex court registry. The top court said that the funds collected through auction of properties will help in speedy completion of stalled projects and bringing back the confidence of home buyers. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit accepted the suggestion of senior advocate R Venkataramani, appointed as court receiver by the top court for auctioning of the attached properties of Amrapali. The top court directed the relevant documents of the attached properties, which were with the Debt Recovery Tribunal be given to the MSTC, which would auction the assets and deposit the amount with the apex court registry. The top court also asked Orissa State Housing Board, to deposit Rs 34 crore with the apex court registry, which had been deposited by Amrapali Group with it for developing a housing project.
It said that there will not be any forfeiture of any amount deposited by Amrapali as it was the home buyers’ money which was diverted by the embattled real estate group. Similarly, the top court also asked the Raipur Development Authority to deposit Rs 19 crore with the apex court registry.
The counsel for Raipur Development Authority said that Rs 19 crore was deposited by Amrapali Group for the lease of three land plots for development into a housing society but the agreement was never fulfilled and the authority had to cancel the contract.
The top court took strong exception of non-compliance of its order of depositing the home buyers’ money by Surekha Group and directed that its directors Vishnu Surekha, Navneet Surekha and Akhil Surekha will have to remain present on December 2, if they do not deposit Rs. 167 crores with the apex court registry within six weeks.
