The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) has claimed that eight real estate developers have allegedly diverted Rs 860 crore funds collected from home-buyers, a contention that is denied by most of the developers involved.
Following the instructions of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on September 12, 2017, YEIDA chief executive officer Arun Vir Singh formed a committee headed by additional chief executive officer (ACEO) Amarnath Upadhyay to audit accounts of 28 real estate developers.
The committee has now submitted its audit report to the CEO in which it has named Sunworld Infrastructure limited, Oasis Realtech private limited, Supertech Group, Logix Group, Three C developers, SDS Infracon private limited, Green Bay Infrastructure private limited and ATS Realty private limited of diverting funds. The other 20 developers are in the clear although the committee says some of them owe YEIDA money.
“We have issued notices to these eight builders and directed them to open escrow accounts for their respective housing projects and deposit the diverted amount in the next 30 days or be ready to face criminal cases. The authority will file an FIR against each and send them to jail if needed,” said YEIDA CEO Singh.
Sunworld Infrastructure limited is accused of diverting R47.55 crore, Oasis Realtech private limited R8 crore, Supertech Group R262.82 crore, Logix Group R37.84 crore, Three C developers R27.93 crore, SDS Infracon private limited 182.44 crore, Green Bay Infrastructure private limited 173.10 crore and ATS Realty private limited R120.75 crore, according to YEIDA officials.
Five of eight developers termed the “audit methodology” followed by the authority as “faulty”.
The audit covered the 28 builders to which YEIDA had alloted land in 2010-11. Some of these builders have partially delivered their projects, but the majority of them are yet to deliver as the construction work is underway.
Getambar Anand, chairman and managing director, ATS Builders and president of confederation of real estate developers association of India (CREDAI), a realtors’ body, said: “ The work at our project is being finished as per schedule and we have not at all diverted any money of buyer. The audit report is one-sided and discouraging for the builders like us, who are delivering each project on time.”
The builders said that the audit report would tarnish the image of the builders and could delay the projects.
RK Arora, chairman and managing director of the Supertech Group, said: “Our team had explained to the committee that we have not diverted any money. We had taken a loan to finish the housing project on time and then paid interest on the loan amount back to the lender. The committee considered that repayment of interest as diversion. I am shocked.”
YEIDA said it had called the builders several times for meetings giving them opportunity to explain the diversion of funds.
“We have collected all details of these builders from them. We checked their balance sheets and expenditure that established that they have diverted funds of buyers. We need to safeguard buyers’ interest and act as per the orders of state government. If the builders feel the report is wrong then they can go to court or take legal course. Also, their allegation that the report is one-sided is false as the committee gave adequate opportunity to them for explaining the fund diversion,” said Singh .
One of the developers claimed it was YEIDA that owed it money.
According to Logix Group , YEIDA owes it R100 crore . Logix Group CMD Shakti Nath said: “I have already surrendered the group housing land because the authority failed to give me possession. If there is no group housing land with me then how can there be diversion. The YEIDA still needs to refund me more than R100 crore for the land, the possession of which wasn’t given to me .”
Another claimed it couldn’t have diverted the amount YEIDA claimed it had, although it admitted its project was delayed.
Sunworld Infrastructure limited director Sanjeev Gupta said: “We have collected only R23 crore from the home-buyers in our housing project then how can we divert R47.55 crore. We have not diverted any amount and we are asking buyers to shift to other projects because of the delay or take their money back.”
YEIDA is yet to provide facilities such as drinking water, roads, parks and offer possession of the group housing land properly, said the builders.
Sanjay Nagar, promoter of Oasis Realtech private limited said: “The committee is making baseless allegations because we have not diverted any money. We had explained to the committee how we used the money collected from buyers. Instead of providing water, roads and other facilities, (YEIDA) officials are involved in tarnishing the image of builders, who want to deliver flats.”
Executives at the three other developers named, Three C developers, SDS Infracon private limited and Green Bay Infrastructure private limited, couldn’t be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.
“Twenty builders did not divert funds collected from home-buyers. But we have issued notices to them too as they need to pay up land dues of the government. A total of 28 builders have failed to clear R3,514 crore land dues to the authority (government). We sent notices to all 28 builders directing them to either pay up or face action,” said Singh.
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