Reply on Jaypee bid to sell e-way, Supreme Court tells Centre
The court had also restricted the directors of firm from leaving the country.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Centre on the proposal of real estate major Jaypee Group seeking permission to “hive off” its six-lane, 165-km—long Yamuna Expressway for Rs 2,500 crore to generate funds to refund people who had invested in its housing projects.
Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for Jaypee Group, informed the bench of Chief Justices Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud that the company had an offer for Rs 2,500 crore and he submitted the proposal to the court in a sealed cover. He said unless this money was realised, it would not be possible to deposit Rs 2,000 crores for homebuyers before October 27.
The court was hearing petitions from homebuyers who wanted protection of the interests of over 30,000 buyers who invested hard-earned mo-ney to book their dream homes in 27 different projects of Jaypee Infratech. Jaypee counsel said that the company needed to raise funds to deposit Rs 2,000 crore in the apex court registry for paying the troubled homebuyers. On September 11, the court had directed the builder group to deposit Rs 2,000 crore in the Registry by October 27 to cover its liabilities to homebuyers and asked it to take prior approval of the court if it wished to sell any asset or property to raise these funds.
The petitioners, who are homebuyers of Jaypee’s Wish Town Project at Noida, had challenged the insolvency proceedings initiated against Jaypee Infratech. The court had also restricted the directors of firm from leaving the country. The apex court also revived insolvency proceedings against Jaypee Infratech Ltd and handed over its management control to the Interim Resolution Professional, appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal.
Flat buyers said the Insolvency and Bankrup-tcy Code of 2016 does not fall under the category of secured creditors like banks and hence they may get back their money only if something is left after repaying secured and operational creditors.