We will not run away from our responsibilities: Supertech chairman

RK Arora, chairman, Supertech, talks to Jeevan Prakash Sharma about his project, Supertech Emerald Court, in which, as per a recent Allahabad High Court verdict, two towers are to be demolished.

Out of 600 homebuyers in the two towers, Apex and Ceyane, a majority want their money refunded with 14% interest compounded annually as directed by the Allahabad High Court. These homebuyers allege that you don’t want to refund the money and are avoiding their calls and e-mails. Why?

That’s not correct. The judgment has just come in. We are assessing the situation. We have decided to appeal against the judgment in the Supreme Court as we are confident that we have not deviated from the approved layout plan by even a single inch. At the same time, we are also working out a process to refund the money. My only request to the homebuyers is that they should be patient. We will not run away from our responsibilities.

You say you have not deviated from the approved layout plan, but why did the Allahabad High Court say that you, in collusion with the Noida Authority, got a layout plan sanctioned which was not in accordance with the Authority’s building regulations and UP Apartment Act, 2010?

I don’t want to comment on the judgment right now. We will present our case in the Supreme Court. We have been in the construction business for the last 25 years with projects across cities and states and we have always acted in accordance with the law and the existing building by-laws.

Do you mean to say that the judgment is wrong?

I think we couldn’t convey to the court our point of view. We will do it in the Supreme Court.

RWA members of Emerald Court have made allegations of there being gross violation of fire safety norms; procuring of fake structural design certificates from IIT Roorkee and various other safety hazards in the two towers. Some of them have been recorded by the Allahabad High Court judgment. What do you have to say in your defence?

As I said, we strictly followed the building by-laws and the National Building Code norms and did not deviate an inch from the layout plan. We will answer all these allegations in the Supreme Court.

How much money have the homebuyers in the impacted towers paid and how much have you already spent on the construction of the two towers?

There are a total of 857 flats, out of which about 70% were sold out, which makes it approximately 600 flats. We have collected about Rs 180 crore from the 600-odd homebuyers and construction costs have come up to around Rs 70 crore.

How long will it take for you to get to the Supreme Court?

We are taking legal opinions and we will be doing it very soon.