BackDelhi HC directs Unitech to open escrow accounts to protect home-buyers
The scheme provides delay penalties twice the contractual penalty amount in the agreement, as well as phased exit for Unitech home-buyers
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Bengaluru: The Delhi high court has directed Unitech Ltd to open escrow accounts in its delayed residential projects in order to protect the interest of home-buyers and a court appointed commissioner to monitor the same, the realty firm informed NSE on Monday morning.
The scheme being proposed provides delay penalties twice the contractual penalty amount in the agreement, as well as phased exit for buyers, the court has said.
The Delhi high court, upon a first motion application filed by various homebuyers in the matter of Scheme of Compromise and Arrangement under Section 39(1), passed an order on 2 September. Unitech received it late on Saturday.
The court has noted that the company should have positive cash flows post development of these projects and expeditious delivery to home-buyers is possible if existing customers pay up the outstanding amounts as due from them towards the purchase of flats/units.
In a bid to give Unitech and its promoters a reasonable opportunity to fulfil their commitments towards home-buyers by building the projects and handing over the homes, the court has directed all proceedings pending in other forums in respect to complaints against the company to be kept in abeyance till further orders.
This, however, does not apply to directions issued or to be issued by the Supreme Court.
On 17 August, Supreme Court had asked Unitech to refund ₹ 15 crore to a group of buyers who bought apartments in its Noida and Gurgaon projects that have been delayed. The company and buyers have agreed that ₹ 15 crore is roughly the principal amount the buyers had paid.
A bench headed by justice Dipak Misra asked the company to deposit ₹ 5 crore in two weeks in an account with the Supreme Court registry, to begin with.
The case will be heard next on 4 October.
At 10.44am, Unitech was trading at ₹ 5.36 on BSE, up 2.10% from previous close while India’s benchmark Sensex Index rose 0.99% to 28,813.31 points.
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