Supreme Court orders sealing of nine properties of real estate company Amrapali Group
The order came after three directors of the group said documents relating to its subsidiaries were stored at the properties in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed authorities to seal nine properties of real estate firm Amrapali Group in Noida and Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, and Rajgir and Buxar in Bihar, where documents related to its 46 subsidiaries are kept, PTI reported.
Justices UU Lalit and DY Chandrachud also ordered that keys of the nine properties be handed over to the Supreme Court registrar after they are sealed.
The Supreme Court’s order came after three directors of the group who were sent to police custody on Tuesday informed the bench that all documents and account books relating to the 46 group companies were kept at the nine properties.
The top court sent Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar to police custody for failing to provide the documents to the forensic auditors twice – on September 12 and September 26. The top court said it was “not arresting them” and that they would remain in custody only till the documents are handed over, reported The Indian Express.
The bench said that only court-appointed forensic auditors and their authorised representatives could enter the premises of the nine properties. On September 12, the Supreme Court appointed Ravi Bhatia and Pawan Kumar Agarwal to conduct forensic audit of the group’s accounts.
Supreme Court orders sealing of nine premises of Amrapali group in Noida, Greater Noida,Rajgir and Buxar in Bihar, after the three directors informed the Court that all documents relating to 46 group companies are stacked there. pic.twitter.com/ZgShqjAxqn
— ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2018
At least 55 flat buyers have filed petitions seeking directions to quash the insolvency proceedings against the Amrapali Group. The petitioners claim the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, violates their fundamental rights as the code prioritises lending institutions.
They have also claimed that more than 100 people booked apartments but did not get possession of flats, nor did they receive a refund of the money they invested.
In August, the court had warned the firm’s managing directors and directors that “each and every property” of theirs would be sold to recover the cost of construction of its pending projects. The court made this statement after the company said it was not in a position to complete the projects and hand over flats to more than 42,000 home-buyers in time.
The group had earlier submitted a proposal to the Supreme Court to sell commercial properties worth Rs 400 crore against the Rs 4,000 crore likely to be incurred on completing the pending projects.