SC hearing next week, Sports City builders start repaying their dues
Notably, a consortium partner in the Sector 150 Sports City project led by Lotus Green Constructions has deposited Rs 80 crore.
Officials said that several other consortium partners in the Sector 150 Sports City project have expressed willingness to pay and are likely to follow suit soon. In March, the Authority had issued notices directing developers to settle long-pending dues within a month, in compliance with a high court order issued in Feb.
These dues include pending premiums, interest on premiums, penalty interest, lease rent, time extension fees, and the 64.7% additional compensation amount. An official said that 62 notices were issued to various developers across the four Sports City projects in the city. These projects collectively owe Rs 11,000 crore in dues to the Authority.
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While the projects were originally awarded to four lead developers, they later subdivided the plots and sub-leased them to their consortium partners.
In a set of rulings on Feb 24 this year, the Allahabad High Court directed the Authority to issue notices to all stakeholders, demanding payment of outstanding dues, including interest and penalties. It warned that failure to comply would result in the automatic cancellation of allotments.
Exposing what it described as a "dirty nexus" between real estate developers and Noida Authority officials, the high court had ordered investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into three of four Sports City projects, citing massive financial and planning irregularities.
A division bench comprising Justices Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Prashant Kumar passed 10 separate judgments detailing violations of land use norms, misappropriation of public land, financial mismanagement, and a systematic failure to construct the promised sports infrastructure.
In response, many developers approached the Supreme Court, challenging the High Court's verdict. While the apex court did not stay the CBI and ED investigations, it restrained the agencies from taking any coercive action against the developers for the time being.
The next round of hearings is scheduled for the first week of Aug.
To oversee compliance, the Authority constituted a committee, led by an additional CEO, to pursue recoveries, enforce court-mandated timelines, and monitor the development of the sports infrastructure. The court's scrutiny has focused on Sports City projects in Sectors 78, 79, and 101, developed by Xanadu Estate, and two major projects in Sector 150, developed by Logix Infra Developers and Lotus Greens Constructions.
The fourth project is led by ATS Homes in Sector 152.
Developers were found to have violated project norms by prioritising residential and commercial development over the mandated sports facilities, which were supposed to occupy 70% of the allotted land. The Xanadu and Logix projects are both currently under insolvency proceedings, which the court criticised as strategic attempts to evade liabilities.
First conceptualised in 2004 and launched between 2010 and 2016, the Sports City projects were planned across 798 acres in Noida, promising world-class sports infrastructure, including three golf courses and an international cricket stadium. However, developers focused instead on residential and commercial construction, failing to deliver the promised sports infrastructure.
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