The Supreme Court today allowed real estate major Supertech Ltd to remove construction materials from its sealed 40-storey twin towers in NOIDA to ensure safety of the residents and others. A bench of justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan allowed the plea of Supertech Ltd that keeping the safety aspects in mind, the construction materials and equipments at the site need to be removed.
The Allahabad High Court had earlier ordered demolition of the 40-storey residential twin towers. The apex court had on May 5 agreed to examine the appeal of the firm, ordered “status quo” and sealing of the towers which were allegedly illegally constructed. The towers, Apex and Ceyane, have 857 apartments in total. Of these, about 600 flats have already been sold.
The court also today issued notice to Emerald Court Owner Resident Welfare Association and NOIDA (New Okhla Industrial Development Authority) on the plea and asked them to nominate two representatives each to supervise removal of construction materials from the site. “The application for removal of construction material from the site is being allowed and the exercise for removal of materials from the premises would commence on June 6 from 9 AM to 5 PM,” the bench said.
“The entire exercise of removal of construction material will take place under the supervision of a Local Commissioner (a NOIDA-based lawyer) appointed by the court,” it said. It said the Local Commissioner will prepare an inventory of materials and equipments removed from the site premises.
“The process of removal of materials shall continue for three days starting from June 6 and in case the work is not finished, one day extension could be granted,” the bench said. The officials should de-seal the site for the purpose of removing of materials and re-seal it after the work is finished, it said.
Earlier, the apex court had said that Supertech Ltd was putting lives of thousands of people at stake. On April 11, the Allahabad High Court had ordered demolition of the two towers and directed the company to refund money to the home buyers.
The HC order came on a petition of the Emerald Court Owner Resident Welfare Association, which had alleged that the approval and construction of the two towers was “in complete violation of the Uttar Pradesh Apartment (Promotion of Construction, Ownership and Maintenance) Act”.
(Source: PTI)
