Jaypee flat buyers take fight to Supreme Court
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court agreed to hear on Thursday a PIL on behalf of nearly 32,000 home buyers who face uncertainty over their investment in housing projects in Noida and the National Capital Region (NCR) being developed by Jaypee Infratech since National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) initiated insolvency proceedings against it.
Appearing for the PIL petitioners on Wednesday, senior advocate Ajit K Sinha informed a bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud that after initiation of insolvency proceedings, the corporate affairs ministry has asked home buyers to sign a specified form under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, by Thursday.
Challenging the provision of the 2016 bankruptcy procedure, Sinha said once home buyers signed these forms, it would debar them from initiating proceedings in consumer forums to recover their money for deficiency in service by Jaypee Infratech, which is constructing the huge township ‘Jaypee Wish Town’ in Noida among other housing projects in the NCR.
The Allahabad bench of NCLT had initiated proceedings under the bankruptcy code on a petition moved by IDBI Bank. Sinha said by signing the form, home buyers affected by Jaypee Infratech projects would be barred from moving consumer courts, even though flat buyers in other housing projects by other builders would be free to approach consumer forums.
According to the NCLT order, Jaypee Infratech has defaulted on Rs 526.11 crore loan outstanding. The latest move by NCLT against Jaypee Infratech has left around 32,000 home buyers in the lurch.
Lead PIL petitioner Chitra Sharma filed the petition through advocate Ashwarya Sinha and said the confusion prevailing in the insolvency proceedings against Jaypee Infratech had cast doubts on the home buyers’ investments.
Pursuant to NCLT ordering proceedings against Jaypee Infratech Ltd, Forms B and C were issued by IRP expressly relating to financial creditors and operational creditors. Later, IRP clarified that home buyers too can fill these forms, but forms B and C do not include flat buyers at all. The chaos and ambiguity was amplified as another form, Form F, was introduced wherein the ministry of corporate affairs made a statement that flat buyers can fill the said forms,” the petitioners said.
They said the forms issued till date by IRP in case of Jaypee Infratech pertained only to financial and operational creditors. “The case of flat owners like the petitioners are not covered by any of the said forms, since admittedly they are not financial creditors as they have been held not to be operational creditors by NCLAT.”
Home buyers requested the SC to issue a direction to all concerned “that Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 shall not curtail the legal and statutory rights of flat owners/buyers as consumers as defined under Section 2(d) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986”. In the alternative, they requested the SC to declare home buyers as secured creditors to assure them that they would get back the money they had invested in Jaypee Infratech projects.
source(timesofindia)
