HC directs suburban collector to sell realtor’s assets to recover amount

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has directed two banks to deposit the balance amounts belonging to companies of Vidhi Realtors Group with the court and asked the Mumbai suburban collector to attach unsold flats in three wings of Gaurav Discovery project to repay the amounts due to six home buyers.

During the further hearing of a contempt petition moved by the six home buyers of Gaurav Discovery in Malad against Vidhi Realtors and the Mumbai suburban collector, justice RD Dhanuka and justice MM Sathaye directed ICICI Bank and Punjab National Bank to deposit the amount lying in the accounts of Vidhi Realtors and its group companies Yash Developments, Primeland, Ravi Foundation, Ravi Ashish Land Development Ltd and Rajdeep Realtors Ltd with the HC within a week.

The court asked the prothonotary and senior master to permit the petitioners to withdraw the amounts proportionately according to their share.

Earlier, Ketan T Shah and Jayesh T Shah, promoters of Vidhi Realtors group, had submitted an affidavit before the court that they were ready to repay the due amounts to the petitioners and they have ₹49.01 lakh balance in the bank accounts in the two banks.

They also informed the court about the details of their properties and submitted that the Gaurav Discovery project had five wings. The affidavit mentioned that only one flat was unsold in B wing, four in C wing, and five in D wing. The court then asked the Mumbai suburban collector to attach and sell these properties to recover the remaining amounts due to the six home buyers.

Advocate Manish Gala along with Nilesh Gala and Nishant Chothani of Law Square appeared for the petitioners, while Makrand V Raut appeared for the developer, assistant government pleaders AI Patel and K N Solunke appeared for the state.

The six petitioners had booked flats at the project and were promised possession by December 2017, but the developer did not complete the project. The buyers then filed complaints with Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA). The housing regulator had in 2019 directed the developer to refund the amount with interest.

However, the developer did not comply with the MahaRERA orders. The authority had issued recovery warrants and directed the collector and tahsildar to attach and sell the property to recover dues as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code. When the recovery warrants were not issued by the revenue authorities, the buyers had filed a writ petition. In April 2022, the HC had directed the officials to attach and auction the developer’s properties by June 2022 to recover the money. When the HC orders were not complied with, the buyers moved a contempt petition. The HC had then warned of contempt proceedings against the collector and tahsildar if they did not comply with their orders.

The court scheduled the next hearing on February 13, 2023.