Supertech moves Supreme Court to confine demolition to one tower

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Real estate company, Supertech Limited has moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of the top court's August 31 judgment by which the Court had directed the demolition of the 40-storey twin-tower building of Supertech's Emerald Court project at Noida. According to Bar and Bench, Supertech, in its application before the apex court has prayed the judgment be modified such that only one of the two towers be demolished while the other is kept intact.

This is because the demolition of one of the towers, T17 will ensure compliance with minimum distance requirements and the national building code.

The Court in its judgment had ordered the demolition of towers T16 and T17.

Supertech has stated that it is not challenging the legality or substance of the August 31 judgment but only seeks a modification to save "crores of rupees".

It has contended that by demolishing T17 alone, the minimum distance requirement from another building, T1 can be achieved.

T16 can be kept intact since it is already at a distance of 43 metres from T1 and is not illegal.

The developer has further submitted that it will establish a green zone at the demolished site of T17 and allocate flats to all those in T16 who have still not withdrawn their allocations.

It has by way of an interim measure, sought status quo on the entire demolition exercise till the case is heard and decided by the top court.

Supertech also claimed that the proposed idea will have a positive impact on the environment since the demolition materials dumped in landfills or burnt adding to the environmental degradation can be reduced by restricting the demolition to one tower alone.

A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah had in its August 31 judgment, ordered that the demolition of the twin towers should be completed within three months and the builder has to bear the expenses for the same.

Importantly, the Court had ordered that all the flat owners in the twin towers should be reimbursed with 12 per cent interest.

Pertinently, the top court also upheld the High Court's direction to sanction the prosecution of officials of New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) for colluding with the builder to violate the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act 1976 and UP Apartments Act 2010.

The order was passed after the Court concluded that the sanction given by NOIDA in November 2009 for the twin towers was violative of minimum distance requirements and the national building code.

The Court said that the case is replete with instances of collusion between NOIDA and the builder and illegal construction of twin towers was achieved by such collusion.

"The record of this case is replete with instances which highlight the collusion between the officers of NOIDA with the appellant and its management. The case has revealed a nefarious complicity of the planning authority in the violation by the developer of the provisions of law," the judgment had stated.

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