Builder arrested in ULC scam - Cheated Buyers

With the arrest of a builder from Mira-Bhayander township here, Thane city police today claimed to have unearthed a scam in the ULC department of the District Collectorate.

Also, police booked one more person and an architect besides the then government officials from the ULC section (of the Collectorate and Civic Corporation) involved in the fraud.

They have been booked under sections 420, 467, 468, 470, 471 and 120B of the IPC and also sections 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988, police said.

The accused builder--Shaymsunder Agarwal--who was supposed to surrender his excess land holding to the government under the ULC Act or get an exemption from the government under Section 20 of the Act, had cheated people and authorities into believing that he has got the exemption and carried out construction on a plot in Mira Bhayander locality.

For proceeding with the construction, he went ahead cooking up the permissions, orders etc for which he made use of stamps and signatures in connivance with government officers.

According to a senior police officer from the Thane Commissionerate the fraud caused losses to tune of Rs 11.17 crore to the government exchequer.

"This is only a tip of an iceberg and further probe will reveal many more such violations under section 20 of the ULC Act in various civic corporation limits in the district," he said.

An FIR has been registered with the Thane Nagar police station in connection with the case.

The offence states that all the alleged accused had connived and when it was necessary to give 5% of land to the government for sake of economically weaker while carrying out the construction on the ULC land they conveniently cooked up records and evaded it.

The land under construction was totaling around 23340 sq.Mts of which a specific area was to be given to the government which the alleged accused conveniently avoided. They also managed the NA and building permissions for the same from relevant departments.

The matter came to light when social activist sourced out information under the RTI Act to find that several such properties were not only sold in the open market without permits from the competent authority, but mutation entries of original owners were deleted and transferred to new buyers in the 7/12 revenue records.

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Six Vascon employees booked for fraud

The Pune police booked six employees of Vascon Engineers Limited for allegedly committing a financial fraud to the tune of Rs 34.82 crore.

Matthuswami Krishnamurty (51) of Vascon Engineers has lodged the complaint in this case at the Bund Garden police station. The suspects include company's vice-president Manoj Kallur (48), project in-charge Madhav Kalgavekar, project manager Arvind Gangabaksha Singh, time-keeper Dattatraya Gaikwad and billing engineer Rahul Sonwane.

Police arrested Kallur, following a complaint lodged by Krishnamurthy, who looks after the legal and financial matters of the company.

Police said while working on different posts between November 1, 2007 and July 31, 2009, the suspects allegedly conspired and misused their position to commit a financial fraud to the tune of Rs 34.82 crore by showing more expenses for certain work without taking prior permission from the company.

All the six suspects have been booked under Sections 420, 4662, 467, 477 (a), 405, 407, 408, 415, 418, 201, 120 (b), 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Senior police inspector Ukhaji Sonwane is investigating the case.

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Builder pulled up for delay, told to allot flat to buyer

The A.P. State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (APSCDRC) has directed Aditya Construction Company India to hand over a flat in one of its buildings at Hafizpet to a complainant who approached the commission stating delays in the process.

Sreedhar Naidu Medikonda, a resident of Secunderabad, had booked a flat in the Aditya Imperial Heights building at Hafeezpet in December 2010, and paid Rs. 1 lakh as advance. After paying Rs. 4.87 lakh later, he entered into an agreement of sale with the company in December 2012.

Mr. Naidu complained that the builder failed to get the sanction of layout from the seventh to 14 floor of the building from the authorities on time because of which the housing loans he sought from banks were cancelled more than once. However, the bench noted that as per the agreement between the two parties, Mr. Naidu also did not pay the ‘minimum balance advance’ for the flat, because of which he was not liable for a ‘Pre-EMI’ housing loan scheme offered by a bank.

The construction company also contested that the complainant did not submit relevant documents to the builders for consideration of sanctioning a housing loan to him. It also stated that not obtaining the layout approval for the aforementioned floors is not a ground for complaint, and that he had also left for the US in between once without informing them, and so they could not be blamed.

The bench noted all the those facts, and ruled that since the construction company has not cancelled his allotment still, the builders should hand over the apartment to Mr. Naidu within a month whenever he pays the balance amount.

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Shriram Properties plans township at Uttar Pradesh

Shriram Properties plans township at Uttar Pradesh

Bengaluru-based Shriram Properties, part of the Shriram Group, will invest around Rs.10,000 crore in developing a township - with residential-cum-commercial usage - at Uttarpara, some 20 km north of the city. Called Shriram City Grand, this is the company’s first such project in the State.

The project will come up on nearly 314 acres that once belonged to CK Birla-promoted Amabassador-car maker, Hindustan Motors. The car factory alongside has been lying closed for quite some time now. Shriram paid nearly Rs. 290 crore (approx) for the land but owing to the absence of clearance, it was lying unused. 

Another 72 acres were later purchased by Shriram to ensure connectivity of the project to the nearest highway (Delhi Road). “The first phase will see development of residential properties. The following phases will have office spaces, including IT companies. There will be schools and other educational institutions, hospitals and so on,” the Managing Director M Murali said.

Phase I begins

The first phase, which will be residential complex catering to the affordable housing segment will have 2300 apartments. Each flat will be priced between Rs.12 lakh and Rs.30 lakh with an area (superbuilt) varying between 489 sq feet and 1199 sq feet. Apartment handover is expected to happen within 42 months and the work is expected to begin shortly.

The entire township project, according to him, is expected to be completed over a decade and is likely to generate employment for 40,0000 people. The company is also looking to have projects in the North-East. Details are being worked out. Shriram Properties, Murali said, is planning to raise around Rs.1,000 crore from private equity (PE) funds in FY-17. The funds will be raised for various new property launches in south India, Murali said.

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Chinese firm Fosun eyes Rs 800 crore stake in Nitesh Estates

Shanghai-based Fosun Group is in advanced discussions to invest Rs 800 crore ($125 million) in southern developer Nitesh Estates in what would be the Chinese conglomerate’s first M&A deal in the Indian real estate sector.

Billionaire Guo Guangchang-led Fosun, with more than $75 billion in assets, is likely to pick up around 50% stake as it looks to build a property platform to expand in the country, people directly familiar with the matter said. This would be Fosun’s second buy in India after snapping up controlling shares in Hyderabad-based Gland Pharma in a billion-dollar deal last year.

Nitesh plans to issues shares to Fosun Property Holdings and IDERA Japan, which is controlled by the former, through preferential allotment. The Bengaluru-based company’s founder Nitesh Shetty will retain 25% and continue to run operational management. The potential transaction would trigger a mandatory open offer by the company to public shareholders, though there are no delisting moves afoot now.

JM Financial, Yes Securities, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and EY are said to be advising on the deal-making. Shares in India’s first Ritz Carlton hotel will not be part of the transaction as the first generation entrepreneur Shetty plans to keep it as a part of his personal investments. Similarly, Nitesh Hub mall in Pune, which is majority-owned by Goldman Sachs, is also not part of the ongoing deal with Fosun. When contacted, a senior Fosun India official and Nitesh Shetty declined to comment.

Nitesh has a portfolio of 20 million sqft of completed and under development residential and commercial projects. The company plans to use the proceeds to pare debts and fast track under development projects delayed by adverse market conditions. Going forward, Fosun would co-invest with Nitesh Estates to acquire property assets to expand the Indian real estate footprint. Three years ago, Fosun made a similar entry into Japanese real estate industry by acquiring mid-size asset manager IDERA Capital Management, which owned office buildings in greater Tokyo.

Fosun has been on the prowl for real estate assets in New York, London, Milan, Moscow and Tokyo in recent past. It floated a joint venture acquisition vehicle with European investment firm Resolution Property and counts iconic addresses such as London’s Lloyd Chambers, Milan’s Palazzo Broggi, One Chase Manhattan Plaza and the historic Voentorg building adjacent to Kremlin in Moscow in its portfolio.

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Indian homebuyers petition top court over bankruptcy law

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of homebuyers Tuesday petitioned India's top court to challenge the country's insolvency law, their lawyer said, amid fears that bad loan problems are spilling over to hurt ordinary people.

The group included more than 500 people who invested in a massive housing project outside Delhi, which has since collapsed.

None of the investors have received their homes at the Silicon Valley township project -- more than four years after the original delivery date.

But a bank that lent the developer Amrapali 510 million rupees ($7.7 million), has moved to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against it after the company defaulted on its loan repayments.

The petitioners claim the bankruptcy law introduced last year gives banks that lend to property developers unfair priority, and fails to safeguard homebuyers, their lawyer Ashwarya Sinha told AFP.

Once a company declares itself bankrupt, buyers are unlikely to get either their promised apartments or have investments returned.

"The law is flawed and it should treat homebuyers at par with secured creditors," Sinha said.

"Under the bankruptcy law consumers are not recognised as creditors.

"At most they will be granted the status of an unsecured creditor, but in that case not even the principal amount is secured, forget the interest payments the buyers have made."

Unsecured creditors are among the lowest on the totem pole of claims.

The petitioners are among millions of middle-class Indians eager to own their own homes, and who, from the mid-2000s onwards, poured cash into new building projects on the outskirts of major cities as a property boom took hold.

But many major residential property projects in India have been held up as real estate companies put the cash invested by homebuyers to uses other than completing existing projects, leaving consumers who poured in their money stranded.

Meanwhile, with India's real estate sector now riddled with debt and delays, the nation's banks -- which have some of the highest levels of bad debts in emerging markets -- have stepped up efforts to clean up soured loans.

Amrapali is the second real estate company to face bankruptcy proceedings after Jaypee Infratech, where more than 30,000 people are still waiting for the homes they paid for.

Experts worry as Indian banks step up much-needed efforts to clean up their balance sheets, there could be more such cases.

 Followings are another complaints on Era Landmarks India Ltd:

•  Regarding possession in amp dreamvally highrise

• Amrapali Dream Valley II Builder Amrapali has cheated the buyers

• Delay in possession

• I have booked a flat in Amrpali Dream Valley project as no EMI till Possession. Builder is not giving EMI to bankar since last six months bank is issuing messages for paying EMI what can I do

• Amrapali Dream Valley fraud

• Greater Noida homebuyers demand action against Amrapali Group

• Amrapali Dream Valley home buyers demand completion road-map

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Flat buyer drags Mumbai's Ekta Housing to court for selling promised flat

Mumbai-based prominent developer, Ekta Housing Private Limited will have to face criminal charges in the magistrate court for allegedly cheating a buyer and violating the Maharashtra Ownership Flat Act, 1963 (MOFA). A court of additional sessions judge in recent order provided major relief to a Bhawani Peth-based flat buyer by rejecting a revision petition of the developer seeking relief against criminal charges.

The developer Ashok Mohanani (63) and his son Vivek (36), both residents of Kalanagar in Bandra, had constructed a housing project, ‘California’, at NIBM Road, with the help of complainant Kishore Hiranand Nainani (62). Despite paying for it, he received a demand draft of the amount, after which he approached the court. Ironically, the project is being constructed on the land which was sold to the developer through Nainani, who used to work as real estate agent.

Nainani managed to issue summons to the developer early last month. However, the developer got a stay order by filing a revision petition saying that the property belonged to his wife.

In his plaint, Nainani has said that in 2007, the accused had requested him to find a suitable land near NIBM. They agreed to pay one per cent commission on the agreement value. They purchased 26,000 sq metres for Rs 37.71crore. The accused further requested Nainani to help them for selling the proposed flats and also agreed to pay him two per cent of commission.

After selling six flats, Nainani allegedly became entitled to claim Rs 13 lakh as commission. The developer was liable to pay Rs 50.71 lakh to the complainant towards the entire commission. They paid Rs 5 lakh as an advance by account payee cheque.

Since Nainani was also in need of big house, he booked a flat in the name of his wife Meena Nainani. The developer agreed to sell the flat to him at the rate of rs 3,271 per sq ft. The total consideration worked out to Rs 73.62 lakh. After subtracting the amount of commission, the complainant was allegedly liable to pay Rs 39 lakh to the developer. However, on December 3, Nainani got the letter saying he has paid nothing and that the going rate was now Rs 4,021 per sq ft.

However, this issue was settled for a while. Next, the developer printed his daughter’s wedding cards from Nainani. With this deal, the sum of Rs 12.50 lakh was due from him. The developer agreed to credit the said amount towards consideration of the amount payable by Nainani. He further kept following up the developers, requesting them to register the sale agreement in his favour, but they avoided to do so.

Again, the booking was cancelled putting Nainani in a dilemma as he had already obtained a loan of Rs 33 lakh. He said, “I am still staying in rented premises and unable to buy any flat as I spent my earnings in buying this one. The developer took disadvantage of friendly relations.”

These details proved to be sufficient grounds for the court to initiate proceedings against the developer.

Advocate Bhojwani, representing the Nainani claimed that there are prima facie evidences to show that the amount had been paid from the complainant’s account.

Judge MNM Saleem, while rejecting the developer’s claim, said, “ The developer paid a demand draft of Rs 44.66 lakh to Nainani as a refund. This prima facie shows substance in the complaint. Selling of the flat to third person also shows dishonest intention. After the receipt of 20 per cent sale price of the flat, it was incumbent on the part of developer to execute an agreement. There appears violation of the provision of Section 4 of MOFA.”

Advocate SK Jain, representing developer Mohanani, said that they have now filed an appeal before the high court. “The matter will come up for hearing in couple of days. The sessions court ruled out our request on technical points only. The complainant has no locus standi as the flat was brought by his wife,” he said.

 Followings are another complaints on Era Landmarks India Ltd:

• Kumar Builders and Mumbai based Ekta Parksville asked to advance their possession deadlines
• NEVER TRUST EKTA PARKSVILLE HOMES PVT. LTD.

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