India's Supreme Court formed a three-person panel to speed up the auction of more than 600 acres of Unitech Ltd.'s properties, The Economic Times of India reported.
Former Delhi High Court Judge S N Dhingra was tasked to lead the panel, which will also include a chartered accountant and a court-accredited valuer, the paper noted. The panel was established on the back of 4,688 homebuyers' demand for the reimbursement of the reservation fees they paid for units in various Unitech housing projects that were not delivered on time.
Pioneer Urban Land and Infrastructure Ltd., Unitech's joint venture partner in various affected projects, was also mandated by the court to deposit 400.0 million Indian rupees by April 10. According to the May 14 report, the deposit will be used to partially cover the refund for buyers of units in The Close (South), South City II Floors, Escape, Fresco, and Harmony projects in the city of Gurgaon in Haryana, India.
Unitech has come under fire since 2017 when it failed to deliver residential projects across the country on time, beginning with the arrest of two managing directors for the delays. Ahead of the latest ruling, all directors of Unitech and its subsidiaries were ordered by the Supreme Court to submit a list of their personal assets. A warning accompanied the court order to state that the assets will be auctioned off if the company fails to deposit 1.00 billion rupees by May 11, the publication added.
As of May 14, US$1 was equivalent to 67.57 Indian rupees.
