The Supreme Court has directed the police and district authorities in Gautam Buddh Nagar to remove all encroachments from plots allotted to Unitech Group in Noida’s sectors 96, 97 and 98, after a government-appointed board said entire villages had come up on the land, stalling construction of flats and delaying relief for thousands of homebuyers.
“The encroachment should not hamper the further progress, insofar as the construction work which is to commence is concerned. The court also directed the board to provide the Noida CEO and police commissioner with a list of all properties under illegal occupation. The delay in completing Unitech’s projects has persisted despite efforts by the Centre-appointed board to mobilise funds and resolve disputes with land-owning authorities. The process faced hurdles, including unpaid dues from some homebuyers and charges raised by land-owning authorities in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and other states.
The police administration is to act immediately,” the bench said, directing the three authorities to submit a compliance report by November 17, the next date of hearing. In 2021, the board submitted a plan to the Supreme Court promising delivery of 15,000 residential units within two years. The board previously told the court that projected recoveries from various sources, including homebuyers, could make ₹ 16,970 crore available for completing the projects. The promoters are also facing prosecution in 63 cases investigated by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing, in which chargesheets have been filed and trials are yet to begin. They were arrested in 2017.
Advocate Anubha Agarwal, representing the board appointed by the Centre to oversee Unitech’s projects, told the court that the board was compiling a list of properties under encroachment. She said an entire village, named Maya Nagar, was among the encroachments in the three sectors and that the occupation was preventing the board from proceeding with construction. Directing the police commissioner and the Noida Authority chief executive officer (CEO), along with the Gautam Buddh Nagar district magistrate, to act urgently, the court ordered that “each and every encroachment on these plots” be removed at the earliest.
