The Supreme Court has dismissed the bail plea of jailed former CMD of Amrapali Group of Companies Anil Kumar Sharma, saying he doesn't deserve "sympathy" after having siphoned off the hard-earned money and life savings of thousands of homebuyers. "You have cheated thousands of homebuyers. You siphoned off their hard-earned money and their life savings. You do not deserve any sympathy," a bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi said, and refused to issue notice to the prosecuting agency on the bail plea of Sharma who has been in jail for over four years in the case. "Yours is not a case of simple cheating. See the plight of thousands of home buyers. You cannot have our sympathy. You better enjoy being in jail... This court is very aware of what you did.
The SC bench directed the court-appointed forensic auditors to complete their detailed investigation on divergence of home buyers money by Amrapali group before March 22 and list the matter for hearing on March 24.
The court also questioned how Amrapali Group could mortgage the entire projects and secure loan worth thousands of crores of rupees from banks when it was only an agent to develop the property.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit also cancelled the leases of Amrapali's properties granted by the Noida and Greater Noida authorities and directed the Enforcement Directorate to investigate alleged money laundering by CMD Anil Sharma and other directors and senior officials of the group.
Increase in service tax would make properties costlier to buyers.
In a good news for the hassled home buyers of Amrapali Group, the Supreme Court on Friday was informed that 11,858 flats will be delivered in 2 to 3 months of which 5, 428 units will be handed over the possession in October. A bench of Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi was informed by court receiver senior advocate R Venkataramani that in the upcoming festive season next month 5,428 flats which have been completed by the NBCC will be given to the home buyers with electricity and water connection. "We are facing some issues in providing electricity and water connections to the other 6,430 completed flats and once the connections are provided and they receive completion certificates, these units will be handed over to the home buyers in the next two to three months", he said.
Several leading industrialists, including Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani, Vedanta Resources Limited executive chairman Anil Agarwal, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra, Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Welspun Group chairman and Assocham president B K Goenka, attended the swearing-in ceremony.
The industry is expecting double-digit growth on a year-on-year basis, helped by a possible price correction after softening of raw material inputs and factors such as positive sentiments, pent up demand and improving economic conditions. Besides, a shift in consumer behaviour from price consciousness towards technologically advanced premium products with quality, value proposition and safety aspects leading to a rise in demand for home automation products is making the industry upbeat. With the government's production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for white goods, which has witnessed a committed investment of Rs 4,614 crore, in place, many manufacturers are gearing up to make the most out of the opportunity as well as take steps towards reducing their dependency on imports and make products more affordable.
On July 23, the apex court had cracked its whip on errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by homebuyers and ordered cancellation of the registration of Amrapali Group under the real estate law RERA, and ousted it from its prime properties in the NCR by nixing the land leases.
This follows an investigation into alleged violations of foreign exchange rules involving foreign direct investment of Rs 85 crore and Rs 140 crore by JP Morgan India and Amrapali Group firms.
RBI on Wednesday surprised the markets by leaving key policy rates unchanged, notwithstanding persistent high inflationary pressure.
Realty firms and consultants hoped however that this would be the last round of monetary tightening by the central bank.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled a Rs 39.45 lakh crore Budget with a view to fire up the key engines of the economy to sustain a world-beating recovery from the pandemic. This was Sitharaman's fourth Budget. While the taxpayers were left in the lurch, once again, was she able to cheer Corporate India?