Supreme Court: In an application highlighting the misrepresentations made before the Court by the petitioners regarding status of completion of the Jaipur’s real estate project – Sahara City Homes, the Division Bench of Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, JJ. has asked the Sahara Group of Companies to place on record the list of personal assets.
Background
It was stated on behalf of the respondent that the petitioners had offered an alternative flat assuring its completion within 6 months, as stated in the affidavit filed by the petitioners in the instant proceedings, which led the respondent’s agreement to visit the site and examine the said flat before accepting the offer. However, during his visit, the said flat offered to him in the tower in question was incomplete and that there was no scope of construction being completed within 6 months.
It was further pointed out that as the project stood, no flat had reached its completion, and that the project was not given a completion or occupation certificate, which was a remote possibility in the light of the project’s status. Therefore, it was alleged that the petitioners deliberately misrepresented the status of the project before the Court and betrayed the respondent’s trust. On the other hand, it was stated on behalf of the petitioners that efforts were being made to complete the construction of tower in question wherein the flat was offered to the respondent, and that the same was likely to happen within 6 months but acknowledged the absence of any completion/occupation certificate for the said project.
Court’s Directions
The Court was convinced that there was no scope for the said flat being ready for handing over the possession within 6 months. It further noted the fact that the instant matter was not a solitary case, and that several petitions were filed by flat/apartment buyers which were pending before the District Forum and State Commission and yet to attain finality.
The petitioners counted on difficulties primarily arisen in the instant matter on account of orders passed in SEBI v. Sahara India Real Estate Corpn. Ltd. issuing directions on 21-11-2013 restricting Sahara Group of Companies against parting any movable/immovable properties till further orders, which continued to operate on date.
Therefore, the Court directed the Director of Sahara Group of Companies (including the Company dealing with the project in the instant matter) to place on record the inter alia list of personal assets — both movable and immovable. The Court listed the matter on 21-11-2023.
[Deputy Chief Manager Worker v. Rajinder Kumar, Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No. 12491 of 2018, Order dated 10-10-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner: Senior Advocate Pawanjit Singh Bindra, Advocate Simranjeet Singh, Advocate Neha Gupta, Advocate on Record Gautam Talukdar
For Respondent: Advocate on Record Dr. Vinod Kumar Tewari, Advocate Pramod Tiwari, Advocate Vivek Tiwari, Advocate Priyanka Dubey, Advocate Pankaj Kumar Singh, Advocate Bhoopesh Pandey, Advocate Archana Pandey, Advocate Arun Kumar Shukla, Advocate on Record Siddharth Batra, Advocate Archna Yadav, Advocate Shivani Chawla, Advocate Chinmay Dubey, Advocate Rhythm Katyal, Advocate Ashutosh Chugh, Advocate Pratyush Arora
