New Delhi:
After the Apex Court directed the builders to return money, with interest, to the affected investors, the latter must have heaved a premature sigh of relief. As it turns out, the battle is far from over. The builders are now demanding a no objection certificate (NOC) from the investors' brokers, who seem in no hurry to do so.
The possible nexus came to light when one Prateek Sharma, brother of an investor, approached the Supertech builder to take back his money as per the contract. Instead, he was handed over a list of documents to furnish, which included an NOC.
"I have been asked for a no-objection certificate from the broker through whom I booked my flat. In my case, it is the Unicon Investment Solutions. When I went to their office in Noida, Sector 63, I was kept waiting for about half-an-hour. Then an attendant came out and gave me a mobile number and an e-mail ID. She then told me that if the company had directly paid the builder, it might be months before I get the NOC," said Sharma.
Another investor, Prashant Roy, who had booked a flat in Supertech through Unicon, said, "It is a nexus between builders and broker companies. My flat is not even in the affected Phase, but I am ready to pay the 15 per cent as per the contract. Still, nobody is ready to cooperate."
To get to the bottom of the issue, the MiD DAY reporter, posing as a customer, contacted Unicon official Gurpreet Kaur, who is supposed to issue the NOCs. She denied the dillydallying and said, "We have our own policies. Many buyers have come to us for the NOCs. We have asked them to mail a request and once we get approval from the top officials, we would issue them the certificate within a week."
Despite repeated efforts, the Unicon refused to give an official comment. Even the vice-president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (CREDAI), Geetamber Anand, refused to comment on the issue.
Calling the entire process a sham, a real estate agent, on condition of anonymity, said, "This is no way to block investors' hard-earned money. Now that the Supreme Court has passed the verdict, the builders are bound to return the money with interest. The middlemen have no authority to issue the NOCs."
He, however, also explained that in case the broker earned a commission from the deals, the NOC will be necessary to ensure he doesn't ask for more commission in the future. Director of Supertech, Mohit Arora, said, "Brokers might convince the investors not to cancel the deals. An NOC is necessary in lieu of the commission we have already paid them."
To add to the confusion, many buyers are not even sure if their projects fall in the disputed land or not. To clarify, Arora said, "There are two types of cases. If the flat is not in the disputed area, there is no need for an NOC and the whole amount will be refunded with interest."
The Allahabad High Court, on Wednesday, clubbed all petitions challenging the Uttar Pradesh government's land acquisition in Noida and Greater Noida and fixed July 26 as the next date of hearing. Justices Amitabh Lala and Ashok Srivastava will now hear the petitions related to Bisrakh, Baibatur, Iteda, Ganghola, Deola, Jalalpur, Haiwanpur, Roza Yakubpur and other villages on the same day.