SC to hear NBCC plea seeking RERA exemption for Supertech projects

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear NBCC’s plea challenging NCLAT’s refusal to exempt it from RERA provisions while completing 16 stalled Supertech housing projects. The projects comprise nearly 50,000 homes across four states, with thousands of homebuyers awaiting possession

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea of state-owned NBCC against the NCLAT order refusing to grant any exemption from compliance of the statutory provisions under RERA with regard to completing the 16 housing projects of debt-ridden Supertech Ltd.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice on the plea filed by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) Limited and sought response of the Centre and Ram Kishor Arora, ex-director of Supertech.

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Attorney General R Venkatramani, appearing for NBCC, said that the issue pertains to the grant of exemption from compliance of provisions of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA). The bench said the issue will be taken up for consideration on September 24 and posted the matter for hearing along with pending matters.

On May 22, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) refused to issue a direction granting NBCC waiver from provisions of RERA, saying this tribunal was not competent to grant any exemption from compliance of the statutory provisions. The NBCC moved the NCLAT pursuant to the liberty granted by the top court on February 5 for raising any issue with regard to terms and conditions imposed by the tribunal.

On February 5, coming to the rescue of thousands of hassled homebuyers waiting for the delivery of their dream homes for almost two decades, the top court upheld an NCLAT order asking the NBCC to complete 16 housing projects of Supertech expeditiously.

The court had also restrained all the tribunals and high courts from passing any order that may lead to the stalling of the construction work to be completed by the NBCC. The top court had used its extra-ordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to uphold the December 12, 2024 order of the NCLAT, asking the NBCC to take over the projects in the interest of the homebuyers.

The NCLAT, on December 12, 2024, asked the NBCC, a public sector undertaking (PSU) under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, to complete the 16 housing projects, comprising 49,748 homes in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Karnataka. Around 27,000 homebuyers await receiving houses in these projects.

The NCLAT judgment came after the October 1, 2014 order of the top court that allowed the insolvency appellate tribunal to examine and decide a proposal of the NBCC seeking to complete the stalled projects.

The NCLAT had directed the NBCC to “start the process of award of work before March 31, 2025” and ensure the awarding of the contract within a month thereafter. It was also ordered that the construction work for the 16 projects shall start from May 1, 2025.

It had ordered the “constitution of an apex court committee and project-wise court committee” for each project. The NBCC was asked by the NCLAT to nominate a member to each project-wise court committee.

The NBCC sought to complete the projects, launched in the National Capital Region (NCR), Dehradun and Bengaluru, but the completion of the residential units took a hit owing to a financial crisis faced by the realty major, leading to insolvency proceedings beginning 2021. The NBCC had submitted the terms of reference for undertaking the pending projects of Supertech before the NCLAT. The PSU had proposed to complete the 16 projects in three phases.

Under Phase 1, it had proposed to complete Eco Village-2 (Greater Noida), Romano (Noida), Capetown (Noida), Czar suites (Greater Noida), Eco Village-3 (Greater Noida), Sports Village (Greater Noida) and Eco-citi (Noida). Under Phase 2, the NBCC, according to its application before the NCLAT, had proposed to undertake Northeye (Noida), Upcountry (Yamuna Expressway), Eco Village-1 (Greater Noida), Meerut Sports City (Meerut) and Green Village (Meerut).

For Phase 3, the NBCC had proposed to undertake Hilltown (Gurugram), Aravile (Gurugram), Rivercrest (Rudrapur), Doon Square (Dehradun) and Micasa (Bengaluru).

The Union Bank of India initiated insolvency proceedings against Supertech under section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code on March 20, 2021, claiming more than Rs 431 crore as on January 31, 2021, along with the accrued interest.