SC reserves verdict on sale of unused FAR of Amrapali projects

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on the issue of sale of unused floor area ratio (FAR) of Amrapali Group of Companies in order to generate funds for its stalled projects.

FAR is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land on which it is built. A bench of Chief Justice of India U U Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi reserved its verdict on the issue. The CJI will be demitting office on November 8, a court holiday, and will hold court last on November 7. The Noida and Greater Noida authorities have opposed the sale of the unused FAR while court receiver and attorney general R Venkataramani has supported it saying it will help in generating funds for the stalled projects of the group. Venkataramani had earlier told the bench that to complete the stalled projects, funds will be needed and despite the payment of home buyers, selling of unsold inventories and bank loans, the amount collected will be very less as compared to funds required for completion of pending projects and therefore they need to sell unused FAR.

On October 22, the top court had extended the interim bail granted to former CMD of Amrapali Group of Companies Anil Kumar Sharma and the real estate firm's ex-director Shiva Priya on medical grounds. A bench headed by Chief Justice Lalit had conducted a special hearing on a non-working day for the apex court and allowed Sharma to continue on interim bail as he was scheduled to undergo surgery for cataract and glaucoma, after it was submitted that he had lost around 90-95 per cent of his vision. It had allowed him to visit a hospital in Chennai for the surgery and said he would have to file a report about his medical condition five days after the procedure.

Similarly, the top court also granted extension of interim bail to Shiva Priya, who was granted interim bail on August 22 by two weeks and said he should surrender by November 7 before the trial court or he would be arrested and sent back to jail. Both Sharma and Shiva Priya have been in jail after their arrest in 2018 for various offences including that of cheating, criminal breach of trust and money laundering and have spent nearly four years in prison. Both have been accused of siphoning home buyers' money.

The apex court, in its July 23, 2019 verdict, had cracked down on errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by the home buyers and ordered the cancellation of registration of the Amrapali Group under real estate law RERA and ousted it from prime properties in the national capital region (NCR) by nixing the land leases. The top court had directed a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into alleged money laundering by realtors, providing relief to over 42,000 home buyers of the Amrapali Group with the verdict. Besides the Enforcement Directorate, the Economic Offence Wing (EoW) of Delhi Police and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has also been investigating various cases lodged against former officials of the real estate group.