SC extends deadline for demolition of Supertech twin towers by a week

|HT|

The Supreme Court on Friday extended by a week the August 21 deadline for demolition of the Supertech twin towers directing the demolition agency Edifice Engineering, Noida authority and all stakeholders to ensure the towers are brought down by August 28.

The court also allowed a buffer period of one week (August 29 to September 4) to take care of any marginal delay due to weather conditions.

The bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and AS Bopanna said, “Noida authority has stated that in view of certain work prior to demolition to be completed by August 25, the date of demolition has now been confirmed as August 28 along with a bandwidth of seven days (till September 4) in order to take into account any marginal delay due to weather conditions.”

Noida authority filed a status report on Friday informing the Court about a letter received on August 10 from Roorkee-based Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), the expert agency roped in for the demolition, about delay on account of some work to be carried out by Edifice. This related to charging the 32-storey buildings with explosives to bring it down safely.

Approving the schedule presented by Noida, the bench added, “All parties including Noida, Supertech, CBRI and Edifice shall strictly abide by the directions given above.” CBRI pointed out to the Court that Edifice and Supertech were required to conduct structural audit and conduct a post-demolition audit as well. The Court directed Noida to engage with CBRI and Edifice in meeting all requirements for providing safety conditions during demolition.

The order was passed by Court following a status report filed by Noida authority after receiving a letter in this regard from Roorkee-based CBRI on August 10. Court directed Supertech, demolition agency Edifice, Noida Authority and CBRI to strictly adhere to this deadline.

The two towers- Apex and Ceyane — were directed to be demolished by the Supreme Court on August 31 last year after the buildings were found to be violative of the National Building Code. On July 29, when the matter was last heard, CBRI complained that it had not received its fees of ₹70 lakh and was not getting any information from Edifice with regard to safety audit to be conducted pre-demolition and results of the test blast.

The Supertech IRP informed the court that the fees had been disbursed to CBRI and the sum remaining to be paid to Edifice shall be disbursed before the demolition.

The Allahabad high court had, in April 2014, ordered the demolition of these towers on a plea filed by the Emerald Court Apartment Owners’ Association, which complained that the area occupied by the towers was supposed to be a green area and construction on this space amounted to breach of trust by the builder. It later came to light that the structures were in violation of the National Building Code, 2005.

The top court upheld the high court order and ordered compensation for homebuyers (deposit plus 12% interest) who bought flats in the twin towers. Of the 633 persons who booked flats in the twin towers, about 248 homebuyers took an early refund while 133 took flats in other Supertech projects, leaving only 252 homebuyers who have since been receiving refunds.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)