Supreme Court seeks details of unencumbered assets of Unitech Limited

The Supreme Court has sought details of all unencumbered assets of embattled real estate major Unitech Limited and said that they would be auctioned to refund money to home buyers. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also imposed a cost of Rs 25 lakh on J M Financial Asset Reconstruction Company, which had taken over some loans advanced by HDFC Bank to Unitech Limited. The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said that the asset reconstruction company had given the impression that it would pay the money for refund to home buyers and now the entire proceeding had been diverted. “We treat it as an unnecessary diversion form the main case,” the bench said while imposing the cost. The bench asked the real estate company to file the details of its unencumbered assets and made it clear that they would be auctioned to settle the deals of hassled home buyers. The details of assets have to be filed within 15 days from today. The firm had on March 5 told the apex court that Mumbai-based firm J M Financial Ltd was interested in financing their under-construction projects. The apex court had on October 30 last year said that Unitech Ltd Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, currently in jail, would be granted bail only after the real estate group deposited money with its registry by December-end. The top court had earlier directed the jail authorities to facilitate Chandra’s meeting with his company officials and lawyers so that he could arrange money to refund the home-buyers as well as for completing the ongoing housing projects. Chandra is seeking interim bail from the apex court after the Delhi High Court on August 11 had rejected the plea in a criminal case lodged in 2015 by 158 home-buyers of Unitech projects’ — ‘Wild Flower Country’ and ‘Anthea Project’ — situated in Gurugram.