NCLT directs initiation of insolvency proceedings against Raheja Developers | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The National Company Law Tribunal has ordered initiation insolvency proceedings against real estate agency Raheja Developers on a petition filed by flat assignments from his Gurgaon-based Shilas project. The NCLT said that Raheja Developers is in “debt and default” towards the flat allottees, who had made their payments and the delivery of the units was not on time and referred it Process for resolving business failures (CIRP).
“The application filed by the applicants under Section 7 of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016, for initiating CIRP against Raheja Developers Ltd is hereby accepted,” the NCLT said.
A two-member NCLT bench comprising President Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar and AK Srivastava has also appointed Manindra K Tiwari as interim resolution professional for Raheja Developers.
“There is a default on the part of the CD (corporate debtor) in terms of non-payment of the debt due (delivery of the units) in respect of the amount collected from them under the real estate project when the debt has become due,” the NCLT said.
Moreover, the possession would be granted in the year 2012-2014 with a grace period of six months. However, it was expanded even further. This debt has been acknowledged through several emails and the default continues, the report said.
The case pertains to the Raheja Shilas project located in Sector 109, Gurugram, Haryana. More than 40 flat buyers have claimed a default of Rs 112.90 crore against the real estate company.
The petitioners have submitted that in most cases they have paid more than 95 percent of the total sale price and 100 percent of all demands made so far, as reflected in the demand letter issued by Raheja Developers.
However, the company completely failed to deliver possession of the disputed units even within the extended schedule as per the Agreement to Sell/Flat Buyer Agreement.
During its defense, Raheja Developers said the delay of more than four years was due to force majeure, a situation beyond its control and which was included in the agreement.
It also alleged that the number of petitioners is less than 10 percent of the total purchasers and, therefore, the petition was not maintainable.
However, the NCLT rejected it saying that the plea of ​​stay on grounds of force majeure raised by the CD will not apply to the facts of the present case as the difficulty is beyond the control of the CD.
“In this case, CD has entered into a lawsuit with the government department. Therefore, this cannot be termed as a force majeure clause,” the NCLT said, adding that “the hurdles mentioned by CD in its reply, affidavits and written submissions are not something that can be termed as force majeure or beyond the control of CD or unforeseeable”.
Such legal compliance, NOC, occupancy certificates etc. are an essential part of such real estate projects.
“These hurdles are practical situations for which CD has to come forward for resolution and he cannot eliminate his liability by taking up defense of force majeure or defense of unlawful claims by government/other competent authorities,” NCLT said in its 29-page order.
Lawyer Aditya Parolia represented the association of Revanta, Vanya and Aranya projects of Raheja Developers in the matter.
Earlier, insolvency proceedings were also initiated against Raheja Developers in 2019 due to delay in Raheja Sampada project.
However, in January 2020, this was set aside as the project’s delay was due to the lack of approval from the competent authorities, over which it had no control.