Amrapali case: Noida, Greater Noida authorities oppose selling of unused, additional FAR

New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) The Noida and Greater Noida authorities on Tuesday strongly opposed the plea to sell unused and additional floor area ratio (FAR) in Amrapali housing projects to raise funds for the completion of unfinished projects.

Senior advocate Ravindra Kumar, representing the Noida and Greater Noida authorities, vociferously contested the proposal for sale of FAR.

As a bench, headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit said the authorities should think out-of-box solution to resolve the issue with the unfinished housing projects, as thousands of homebuyers are yet to get possession of their flats, counsel for the authorities said the unused FAR in the existing projects should be used for construction purposes.

As the bench also asked the authorities to spell out what action was taken against officers who had connived with Amrapali promoters in cheating the home buyers, they said that they should not be punished for the wrong committed by their officials.

The top court also asked the authorities to apprise it whether the land allotment policy, which existed during allotment of Amrapali housing projects continues to exist, or some changes have been introduced to it.

It will continue to hear the matter on Wednesday.

On August 8, the Noida and Greater Noida authorities had strongly opposed the court-appointed receiver's suggestion to sell unused floor area ratio (FAR) to raise funds to complete the unfinished Amrapali housing projects.

They had opposed the plea to sell unused and additional FAR and also sub-dividing the plots in Amrapali housing projects to raise funds.

Kumar had then contended before a bench headed by Justice Lalit that the court-receiver proposal has to be examined in light of provision of the lease deed, the building regulations, FAR utilised/sanctioned and actual construction at site, to find out whether any vacant land or FAR or both is available. Flat buyers, who were part of the court proceedings, also opposed the receiver's suggestion.

In July, the court receiver had told the apex court that there are many instances where a portion or part of land is lying unused and without any construction. "In such cases, the available capacity of such portion of open land can be utilised in open market to generate sufficient resources for flat buyers' benefit."

"In his submission, the element of unused and unutilised FAR may as well be worth Rs 700 crore and if permission is granted by this court, the interested buyers may come forward for purchasing that component which is presently lying unutilised. This component in reality belongs to the home buyers and if sold, will help in carrying out construction of unfinished towers/flats," said the top court's order on July 25.

The receiver had submitted that the fact that the authorities were requesting for separation of such component is indicative that it is quite possible and permissible.