Unitech fails to pay ₹2,743.29 cr dues, land allotment for 2 projects to be cancelled

The Noida authority Wednesday said it will cancel the land allotment for two group housing projects being developed by Unitach Group, after the developer failed to pay up ₹2,743.29 crore in land dues.

The authority has started the process to cancel the land allotment and issue recovery notices. The move comes after the Unitech Group failed to pay ₹1203.45 crore land cost for its housing project Unitech Unihomes 3 in Sector 113 and ₹1539.84 crore land cost for its Unitech Unihomes 1 and 2 in Sector 117, officials said.

The authority issued notices to Unitech on August 24, and again on August 30, asking the group to clear the dues.

“We have also cancelled a proposal mooted by Unitech Group seeking to resolve the issue of land dues under project settlement policy for its Sector 117 project. We have also sought an explanation from Unitech about the Sector 113 housing project in which it has sold 19,181.50 square metres of land to two other developers in violation of rules, thereby creating further third-party issues,” Ritu Maheshwari chief executive officer, Noida authority, said.

“If Unitech fails to submit a satisfactory reply to the points raised, then the authority will cancel allotment and also issue recovery notices to collect the dues,” she said.

As per the procedures, if the builder or defaulter allottee fails to pay land dues despite repeated notices, the authority will ask the district administration to recover the dues.

The administration then issues a notice or posts the same at the property of the defaulter, giving the individual a limited time to file a reply. If the builder still fails to submit a satisfactory reply, then the administration begins the process of attaching the property and auctioning the same to recover the dues. It can also arrest the defaulter for the offence.

Unitech has housing projects in sectors 96, 97, 98, 113, and 117 in Noida. The civil work on these projects is partially complete and the site has become an eyesore with rusted grilles and dilapidated structures left to rot for the past several years.

However, the authority has so far refrained from acting against the remaining projects as the matter is pending a hearing at the Supreme Court for a long time.

Project head of Unitech Group in Noida could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts to reach him on phone and also via text messages.