TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (7) TMI 1509
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....Siddhant Buxy, AOR Mr. Devashish Bharuka, AOR Mr. M.L. Lahoty, Adv. Mr. Paban K. Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anchit Sripat, Adv. Mr. Pranab Kumar Nayak, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Siddharth Batra, AOR Ms. Shivani Chawla, Adv. Mr. Brijender Chahar, Sr. Adv. Ms. Jyoti Chahar, Adv. Mr. Karan Chahar, Adv. Ms. Pooja Chahar, Adv. Mr. Shashi Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR Mr. Randeep Singh Rai, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ayush Shrivastava, Adv. Ms. Rubina Virmani, Av. Mr. Rituraj Singh, Adv. Mr. Shivendra Singh, AOR Mr. Anil Grover, Sr. AAG Mr. Anjay Bansal, Adv. Mr. Satish Kumar, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv. Ms. Noopur Singhal, Adv. Mr. Alok Sangwan, Sr. AAG Mr. Sumit Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anurag Kulharia, Adv. Dr. Monika Gusain, AOR Ms. Gunjan Sinha Jain, Adv. Mr. Miteesh Charan, Adv. Mr. Pranam Jain, Adv. Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR Mr. Somesh Arora, Adv. Mr. Aviral Kashyap, AOR Mr. Vimal Sinha, Adv. Mr. Shish Pal Laler, Adv. Mr. Atul, Adv. Mr. Hitesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Aayush, Adv. Mr. Vedant Pradhan, Adv. Mr. Vikram Singh Jakhar, Adv. Mr. Ravi Panwar, AOR Mr. Pulkit Deora, Adv. Mr. Udit Gupta, Adv. Mr. An....
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........................................para(s) 107-113 VIII. Applications filed by: (a) Dharamvir & Ors...........................................................para(s) 114-118 IX. Other issues..................................................................para(s) 119-120 Conclusion.....................................................................para(s) 121(a)-(p) Background 1. The present judgment will dispose of various applications filed by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (hereinafter, "HSIIDC") and others, by way of clarifications sought on the judgment delivered by this Court in Rameshwar v. State of Haryana (2018) 6 SCC 215 (hereinafter, "main judgment"). 2. The main judgment of this Court had, after duly considering the sequence of facts and developments which occurred after publication of the notification under Section 4 of the (now repealed) Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter, "Acquisition Act") on 27.08.2004, read with the final decision of the State of Haryana (hereinafter, "State") dated 29.01.2010 to not proceed with the said acquisition, declared as mala fide and inoperative the decision dated 29.01....
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....t of lands: (i) which were covered by declaration under Section 6 in the present case, and (ii) which were transferred by the landholders during the period 27-8- 2004 till 29-1-2010. The lands which were not transferred by the landholders during the period from 27-8-2004 till 29-1-2010 are not governed by these directions. 42.3. Subject to the directions issued hereafter, the lands covered under aforementioned Direction 42.2 shall vest in HUDA/HSIIDC, as may be directed by the State of Haryana, free from all encumbrances. HUDA/HSIIDC may forthwith take possession thereof. Consequently, all licences granted in respect of lands covered by the deemed award dated 26-8-2007 will stand transferred to HUDA/HSIIDC. 42.4. Since the dropping of acquisition on 24-8-2007 and subsequent decision dated 29-1-2010 have been set aside, the period between 24-8- 2007 and up to the date of this judgment shall not be counted for the purposes of Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. 42.5. All transactions entered into during the period from 24-8-2007 till 29-1-....
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.... subsequent transactions, the subsequent purchasers will have remedies against their respective vendors. Claims of builders/private entities entitled to refund will be taken up after settling claims of third parties from whom the builders/private entities had collected monies. No interest will be payable on such amounts. 42.8. The third parties from whom money had been collected by the builder/private entities will either be entitled to refund of the amount from and out of and to the extent of the amount payable to the builder/private entities in terms of above direction, available with the State, on their claims being verified or will be allotted the plots or apartments at the agreed price or prevalent price, whichever is higher. Every such claim shall be verified by HUDA or HSIIDC. In cases where constructions have been erected and the entire project is complete or is nearing completion, upon acceptance of the claim, the plots or apartments shall be made over to the respective claimants on the same terms and conditions. Except for such verified and accepted claims, the remaining area or apartments will be completely at the disposal of HUDA or HSIIDC, as the case may be, ....
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....ing not to acquire such lands. 6. To appreciate the rival contentions, it would be necessary to set out the facts in regard to the relevant transactions. I. Applications filed by (a) M/s. Paradise Systems Pvt. Ltd.; (b) M/s. Karma Lakelands Pvt. Ltd. and (c) Frontier Home Developers Pvt. Ltd. a. M/s. Paradise Systems Pvt. Ltd. and Green Heights Projects Pvt. Ltd. 7. Paradise Systems Pvt. Ltd., (hereinafter, "Paradise") purchased 2.681 acres of land in village Lakhnaula on 06 - 07.04.2004, by registered sale deeds^1 On 09.09.2007, Paradise entered into a collaboration agreement with M/s. Sunshine Telecom Services Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter, "Sunshine"). The consideration for that agreement was Rs. 75 lakhs -received by Paradise. In addition, Paradise was entitled to 35% share in the built-up commercial office space with proportionate land rights and common area rights of the developed property. Paradise granted the 'absolute developmental right' of land for construction of commercial office space. The agreement also recorded that the period for completion of the project was to be sixty months. 8. Based on this collaboration agreement, an application was made for gran....
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....though there was no 'transfer' or conveyance of the title in the strict sense, what was apparent was that in terms of the collaboration agreements, though the original landowner held nominal title, effective control of the lands was parted to the colonizer / developer. In the case of Sunshine, the consideration was Rs. 75 lakhs, which was in excess by more than twice the value of compensation offered under the Acquisition Act in adjacent lands. In the case of Green Heights, Paradise received Rs. 28.40 crores. It was submitted that under the collaboration agreement, the colonizer / developer was entitled to develop the lands, build upon it, and allot the residential or commercial unit, as the case was, to those who entered into agreements and paid valuable monies. Crucial rights such as possession, the right to construct as per one's choice, and the right to sell, all devolved on the colonizer / developer, who would be entitled to a share of the proceeds. Therefore, it was urged that the real purpose behind the transactions ought to be viewed holistically, and not only one facet of it, i.e., retention of the title by the landowners. HSIIDC and the State therefore, contended that the....
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....ision of the State to not acquire lands was taken on 29.01.2010, these 25.95 acres belonging to Karma were excluded from acquisition. 15. Mr. Brijender Chahar, learned Senior Advocate for Karma, argued that the State's attempt to include Karma's land in the deemed award was untenable. He also urged that the landowning companies which eventually merged with Karma had as a matter of fact purchased these lands as early as the mid-1990s. Karma's bona fides was evident from the fact that the largest portion of its acquired land, i.e., 207.11 acres, was left out of the acquisition on a proper application of the existing policy, which the State consciously followed. By this policy, lands which had CLU certificates were excluded. Therefore, the 207.11 acres earmarked for the development of the golf course which was a subject matter of the CLU obtained in 1996 was excluded; consequently, it did not find place in the declaration under Section 6. It was submitted that even though the non-CLU lands, i.e., 25.95 acres, did not fulfill the terms of the policy, nevertheless, the justification for not letting the State proceed with their acquisition was that neither Karma nor its predecessors h....
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.... even after the declaration under Section 6 was issued, and much before the scheduled date for the award, on an assumption that it still owned the land and could develop it, an application was made on 15.01.2007 for license. It was also submitted that Karma's submissions that the collaboration agreement with Unitech was arrived at earlier, were of no avail given that the supplementary agreement was also executed by the parties after the declaration under Section 6. Clearly, these events were meant to create an impediment in the acquisition and ultimately led to the decision by which the proposed award was never announced in respect of these lands and finally, the State decided to drop the acquisition in respect of 25.95 acres on 29.01.2010. 18. It was also urged by the State and HSIIDC that unlike in other cases, there had been no development on the land. Further, interests like those of third party allottees was not involved. In these circumstances, the lands which were deliberately excluded from acquisition, after they formed part of the final declaration, by non-publication of the award, clearly fell within the mischief of what could be termed as 'transfer' in the main judgme....
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....,00,000 sq. ft. for 50 residential flats in favor of the Jammu & Kashmir All India Service Officers Society was also agreed to. 22. The materials on record show that a group housing colony styled as "Godrej Frontier" was developed. The occupation certificate was granted by the DTCP on 16.10.2014 for residential, EWS and commercial units, and on 19.06.2017 for community building. The group housing colony comprised of 567 units in total - 475 residential, 84 EWS and 8 commercial. Godrej disclosed in its affidavit that it sold 357 residential units, 8 commercial shops and 83 EWS units from its share and a negligible number of units remained unsold, i.e., 4 residential units; 1 EWS unit and a nursery school. Of the group housing units developed by Godrej Frontier, 199 units were registered in favour of third-party buyers. 23. It was argued, on behalf of Godrej, by learned Senior Advocates Mr. Pinaki Misra and Mr. Randeep Singh Rai that the original landowners in question were not aggrieved. They were neither parties before any forum, nor did they allege any fraud, influence nor were they distressed. Landowners in the present case transacted voluntarily with the colonizers / devel....
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....not be covered by the deemed award as stipulated in the main judgment. 26. It was urged that entering into collaboration agreements, applying for licenses and issuing licenses could not be construed as 'transfers', or a burden on the title. It was submitted that these were legitimate activities that landowners with valid title could perform. It was also urged that Godrej in fact took over development five months after the lands were released from the cloud of acquisition (the collaboration agreement was dated 24.06.2010, whereas the decision of the State to drop the acquisition proceedings was taken on 29.01.2010). Godrej therefore could not be accused of any wrongdoing, because it entered into agreement with bona fide land owners after any kind of impediment on collaboration had ceased. Furthermore, it developed the property by beginning construction only in 2011, after obtaining all permissions. 27. It was lastly urged that in case the interpretation of the main judgment were so as to include the present lands within the ambit of the deemed award, then the purpose of carving out an exception in para 42.2 would be defeated. Moreover, the main judgment was meant to protect th....
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....e sanctioned plans and any modifications thereof as may become necessary or agreed to during the progress of the work. That the Developer is fully empowered and entitled to assign this agreement in favour of any Third Party at its absolute discretion without any recourse to the Owners and the Owners shall have no objection for such assignment. xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx 21. The Owners shall not interfere with or obstruct in any manner with the execution and completion of the work of development the said residential/ commercial/Group Housing /Industrial complex and/or booking and sale of developer's share of development, built or unbuilt areas of the project. However, if any defect is pointed out in the development while the work is in the progress by the Owners, the same will be removed and rectified by the developer. 22. It is agreed between the parties that the possession of the said land once delivered/handed over to the developer for the purpose of the aforementioned project shall not be disturbed nor any interference caused by the Owners till the project is complete. 1t is clarified that the ownership in the said land shall continue to vest exclusively in ....
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.... entitled to appoint one or more substitutes under the said Power of Attorney for the exercise of any or all of the powers and authorities thereunder in favour of its Affiliates." **** 4.2 Marketing It is agreed between the parties hereto that the Developer shall have the exclusive marketing rights of the Project. It shall also be the obligation of the Developer to sell and market the area reserved for Frontier commitments. **** 6.7 Developer shall have exclusive possession of the said property and shall allow reasonable access to Frontier as may be required. Developer also agrees to provide for inspection of all Project related information on a quarterly basis to Frontier. **** 6.8 The original title documents pertaining to Land B are in the possession of Land B Owners. Earl and Frontier shall procure from Land B Owners to deposit the same with the Developer prior to the formation of a society of prospective purchaser of flats in the Project, in conformity with the Applicable law." (emphasis supplied) In light of the above extracts of the documents, it would now be necessary to examine the true nature of th....
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.... latter's intent to develop the lands; vii. The consideration paid to landowners in all these cases far exceeded the market value of the lands, prevailing at the time of the notification under Section 4; viii. The landowner - and wherever applicable, the intervening colonizer / developer - executed registered power of attorneys to the final developer, and in all cases agreed to execute registered sale deeds to the allottees of the colonizer / developer as and when called upon to do so; and ix. In some cases, on the strength of these collaboration agreements, licenses were applied for by the landowner or by the intervening developer. 32. The nature of collaboration agreements has been discussed by this Court in Faqir Chand Gulati vs Uppal Agencies Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. (2008) 10 SCC 345 In this case, the parties had entered into a collaboration agreement for the construction of a residential building. The usual conditions, such as handing over possession, non-interference in the project, handing over title documents to enable sale of constructed units to third parties, etc. were agreed to. Holding that the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was applicable to the ....
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....of the extent of land to be transferred, there is also payment of cash consideration by the builder. But the important aspect is the availment of services of the builder by the landowner for a house construction (construction of the owner's share of the building) for a consideration. To that extent, the landowner is a consumer, the builder is a service provider and if there is deficiency in service in regard to construction, the dispute raised by the landowner will be a consumer dispute. We may mention that it makes no difference for this purpose whether the collaboration agreement is for construction and delivery of one apartment or one floor to the owner or whether it is for construction and delivery of multiple apartments or more than one floor to the owner. The principle would be the same and the contract will be considered as one for house construction for consideration. The deciding factor is not the number of apartments deliverable to the landowner, but whether the agreement is in the nature of a joint venture or whether the agreement is basically for construction of certain area for the landowner." (emphasis supplied) 33. The above judgment, while clarifying the....
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....r than the owner of the land, whether upon the demolition of the existing structure or otherwise, with such person other than the owner having a share in the constructed area, such Agreements have now come to be regarded as Development Agreements. Whether or not such Agreements are in the nature of collaboration or joint venture, they are loosely referred to as Development Agreements in several Judgments. Such Agreements are not merely for the construction of any building or for the mere execution of any other work on the land. The Developer is not merely a Contractor engaged to undertake the construction; the Developer is, under the Agreement with the owner, promised a part of the constructed premises as owner thereof together with the proportionate area of the land. In the context in which certain Agreements are referred to as Development Agreements and the non-owner party to such an Agreement is regarded as the Developer qua the nature of the work envisaged under the Agreement, the Developer always has a share in the building or the area proposed to be constructed - which implies a proportionate share of the piece of earth - and such Agreement envisages the Developer to have a s....
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.... someone to carry out the work of construction on the property for monetary consideration. This is a pure construction contract; 17.2. An agreement by which the owner or a person holding other rights in an immovable property grants rights to a third party to carry on development for a monetary consideration payable by the developer to the other. In such a situation, the owner or right holder may in effect create an interest in the property in favour of the developer for a monetary consideration; 17.3. An agreement where the owner or a person holding any other rights in an immovable property grants rights to another person to carry out development. In consideration, the developer has to hand over a part of the constructed area to the owner. The developer is entitled to deal with the balance of the constructed area. In some situations, a society or similar other association is formed and the land is conveyed or leased to the society or association; 17.4. A development agreement may be entered into in a situation where the immovable property is occupied by tenants or other right holders. In some cases, the property may be encroached upon. The developer may t....
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....Banerjee [Swadesh Ranjan Sinha v. Haradeb Banerjee, (1991) 4 SCC 572] .) An essential incident of ownership of land is the right to exploit the development, potential to construct and to deal with the constructed area. In some situations, under a development agreement, an owner may part with such rights to a developer. This in essence is a parting of some of the incidents of ownership of the immovable property. There could be situations where pursuant to the grant of such rights, the developer has incurred a substantial investment, altered the state of the property and even created third-party rights in the property or the construction to be carried out. There could be situations where it is the developer who by his efforts has rendered a property developable by taking steps in law. In development agreements of this nature, where an interest is created in the land or in the development in favour of the developer, it may be difficult to hold that the agreement is not capable of being specifically performed. For example, the developer may have evicted or settled with occupants, got land which was agricultural converted into nonagricultural use, carried out a partial development of th....
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....e important rights in land for future considerations such as part acquisition of shares in buildings to be constructed, vide sub-clause (ii) of clause (f) of sub-section (2) of Section 269-UA. There is no doubt that the collaboration agreement can be construed as an agreement and in any case an arrangement which has the effect of transferring and in any case enabling the enjoyment, of such property. Undoubtedly, the collaboration agreement enables Unitech to enjoy the property of Vidarbha Engineering for the purpose of construction. There is also no doubt that an agreement is an arrangement. It must, therefore, be held that the collaboration agreement effectuates a transfer of the subject land from Vidarbha Engineering to Unitech within the meaning of the term in Section 269-UA of the Act. It appears to be the intention of parliament to cover all such transactions by which valuable rights in property are in fact transferred by one party to another for consideration, under the word "transfer", for fulfilling the purpose of pre-emptive purchase i.e. prevention of tax evasion. A judgment of the Patna High Court in Ashis Mukerji v. Union of India [Ashis Mukerji v. Union of India, (1996....
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....odrej shows that 50 residential units were committed to the Jammu & Kashmir cadre of All India Service Officers (just above 10% of the total number of flats ultimately constructed). Likewise, in the case of Paradise, Frontier and Karma too, entering into collaboration agreements and the seeking grant of licenses formed the basis for the State's final decision not to go ahead with the acquisition even though a declaration under Section 6 had been published. 39. It is clear that the collaboration agreements formed the first element of a two-step process whereby the colonizers / developers (who might have been also land owners) having acquired lands, prior to the preliminary notification, went ahead and entered into commitments by executing collaboration agreements after the notification under Section 4, and even declaration under Section 6, with full knowledge. The consideration for parting with developmental rights was far higher than the market value of the lands which they would have been entitled to. These acts ultimately culminated with the decision not to acquire the lands. The second step - and the important one persuading the State not to acquire the lands^5 - was the appl....
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.... of the issue. However, this Court cannot be oblivious to the existing state of affairs. The collaboration agreement entered into between Paradise and Green Heights and Frontier and Balbir Singh and Ram Pyari with Godrej have led to construction of units. This Court has been shown materials which establish that in the case of Green Heights, the number of constructed units is 438 (of which 371 have been sold) and in the case of Godrej, the constructed units is 567. It is also on record that Green Heights has received Rs. 70.92 crores as against sale value of agreements. Likewise, there is no denial of the fact that Godrej has also received substantial amounts in the range of Rs. 300 crores towards its residential units sold. In these circumstances, the Court would have to strike a proper balance and protect the interests of such third-party consumers to ensure that they do not suffer on account of the past sins of the colonizers / developers or land owners, as the case may be. 42. The main judgment recorded that in another transaction, one of the colonizers / developers had paid Rs. 4.5 crores per acre at the relevant time (in 2009). During the hearing, learned counsel for the St....
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....wnership of the lands. Karma received substantial amounts to the tune of Rs. 15 crores, and in terms of the agreement placed on record, was entitled to far more substantial amounts had the development in fact been completed. In these circumstances, it is held that the collaboration agreement and the grant of license amounted to 'transfer' within the meaning of the expression in para 42.6 of the main judgment. Such land will therefore, form part of the deemed award. The State shall take appropriate steps and issue the supplementary award in respect of these lands within six months from the date of this judgment. 44. It is also clarified that Karma would be entitled to compensation in accordance with the Acquisition Act as on the date of the notification under Section 4. The compensation in such case shall be determined within the same time-frame as indicated in the award. Karma shall be entitled to statutory benefits such as interest, solatium etc. on such determined compensation. In the event Karma is aggrieved, it is open to it to seek such recourse or redress in law as is available. 45. I.A No. 112515/2020; I.A. No. 117025/2020; I.A. No. 118401/2020; and I.A. No.116268/2020....
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....od - it sold the lands to one Akme Projects Ltd. much later on 23.01.2012. 50. Having regard to the overall circumstances, this Court is of the opinion that the lands owned by both R.P. Estates and Subros should be excluded from the deemed award. The judgment of the Court dated 12.03.2018 is therefore clarified to the above extent. I.A. No. 111557/ 2020; I.A. No. 111562/2020; and I.A. No. 111563/ 2020 of M.A. No. 2067/2020; I.A. No. 116120/2021; I.A. No. 116128/2021 and I.A. No. 123690/2021 of M.A. No. 50/2019 are disposed off accordingly. III. Express Greens / DLF Home Developer Ltd. 51. Express Greens was a project of DLF Home Developers Ltd. (hereinafter, "DLF"). The main judgment of this Court had dealt with the manner in which the land for this project was acquired from the original landowners in the village Manesar by a group of companies and entities owned or wholly controlled by ABW Infrastructure Ltd. (hereinafter, "ABW"). These lands, in aggregate, measured 33.536 acres. ABW and its group of companies obtained License No. 283 and 284 for their development. These lands were part of the 235 acres which ABW had purchased during the subsistence of the acquisition pro....
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....MA (D) 2665/ 2019), and during hearings, DLF represented by learned Senior Advocate Mr. Pinaki Misra submitted that the company was willing to undertake the balance finishing work such as repair and renovation of common areas, strengthening of compound walls, construction of club house etc. and bear all associated expenses. However, this was on the condition that DLF be handed over with the entire project including the entitlement to the balance sale consideration based upon the existing executed agreements with allottees in respect of units allotted to them. DLF also urged in para 18 of its reply M.A. (D.) No. 26552 of 2021 dated 24.08.2020. that it should be allowed to utilize FAR of approximately three lakh sq. ft. in the manner it chose. In lieu of this, it was contended that DLF would give up its claim towards Rs. 372.83 crores in accordance with the main judgment of this Court. In these circumstances, it was urged that this Court should exclude the area of 33.536 acres, i.e., the subject matter of License No. 283 and 284, from the deemed award to enable further development. 56. The State and HSIIDC resisted these contentions. It was pointed out that a detailed analysis was....
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.... flats, upon payment of full consideration, or those allottees entitled to it, after payment of the balance sums. The HSIIDC shall complete the process of validating their title, including the title to the undivided and proportionate land share, within six months from the date of this judgment. 59. So far as the complaints of the home buyers are concerned, this Court had directed for the latest status report to be placed before it, which was furnished by way of an additional affidavit dated 28.04.2020, by DLF. This affidavit enclosed the details of the project. A total of 1348 units were constructed, of which 1223 were sold, and 510 sale deeds were registered. Possession was granted to 882 allottees. It is evident therefore that 441 allottees are yet to be handed over possession; furthermore 713 sale deeds are yet to be executed and registered. The HSIIDC is therefore directed to ensure that the balance allottees are notified about the execution of sale deed and the process of execution and registration of sale deed is completed in their case within six months from the date of this judgment. HSIIDC shall ensure that a designated nodal officer is deployed to scrutinize the releva....
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....ounts, if any, in terms of the main judgment of this Court. It shall hand over all records relating to the allottees, and technical data, pertaining to the entire project to HSIIDC within one month from the date of this judgment. 64. I.A. No. 110995/2019; I.A. No. 91793/2020 and I.A. No. 113206/ 2020 in M.A. (D) No. 26552/ 2019; I.A. No. 36484-85/ 2020; I.A. No. 36487 and I.A. No. 89570/ 2020 in M.A. (D) No. 7888/ 2020; I.A. No. 49986-87 of 2021; I.A. No. 49990/2021 in M.A. (D) No. 9505/ 2021; I.A. No. 31079-81/2022 in M.A. (D) No. 6705/ 2020 are disposed off in the above terms. IV. M/s Kalinga Realtors Pvt. Ltd. 65. An application (MA No. 50/2019) was filed by Kalinga Realtors Pvt. Ltd. the first applicant, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the second applicant, Anant Raj Ltd. Both applicants are cumulatively referred to as "Kalinga". The claim in this application is for a direction for proper calculation of amounts payable by HSIIDC to Kalinga, in terms of the main judgment. It is a matter of record, that Kalinga sought NOC from DTCP to purchase the land in October 2009. The same was granted in January, 2010 and sale deed executed shortly thereafter on 23.04.2010. ABW and its....
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....s prepared to verify all the bills and invoices, provided they were genuine and arrive at the amounts payable. Counsel also submitted that in the event of a dispute, HSIIDC was prepared to submit the dispute to arbitration. 70. From the above discussion, it is evident that Kalinga's grievance is regarding the amounts it claims it is entitled to. The gap between its claim (Rs.308 crore) and what HSIIDC offered at one time (Rs. 11.68 crores) is too excessive. The materials placed on record show that HSIIDC in fact, did put up the entire land, with the construction for auction In its portal HTTPS://HSIIDC.BIDX.IN on an 'as is where is' basis. The date of e-auction was 21.09.2021, with a reserve price of Rs. 309 crores. The advertisement also states that 12 towers were constructed with finishing remaining; other works (EWS, community centre, etc.) were yet to be constructed. The advertisement further states that the successful bidder was to step into Kalinga's shoes and complete the project. 71. It is apparent to this Court from the materials on record that the initial valuation of Rs. 11.68 crores made by HSIIDC is inaccurate, particularly in view of the reserve price indicated ....
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....ontempt petition in this regard, will be entertained by this court. 75. I.A. No. 46028/2020; IA No. 59743/2020; I.A. No. 118798/2020; IA No. 103292/2020 and I.A. No. 137407/2019 in M.A. No. 50/2019; I.A. No. 30807/2020; I.A. No. 3403/2020; I.A. No. 3406/2020; and I.A. No. 191983/2019 in M.A. (D) No. 45009/2019; I.A. No. 192027/2019 in M.A. (D) No. 45026/2019; Contempt Petition No. 716/2021 and Contempt Petition (D) No. 21733/2021 are disposed off in terms of the above directions. V. ABW Infrastructure Ltd. 76. ABW was earlier known as M/s. Aditya Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. ABW and its associated companies had purchased maximum land measuring over 235 acres. 'ABW Aditya Niketen' was floated by ABW in M-I, M-I(A) and M-I(C) adjoining HSIIDC Residential Sector-1, Manesar, Gurgaon, Haryana. That project was the subject matter of the proceedings throughout culminating in the main judgment of this Court. 77. From 2009 onwards, 1993 allottees booked their flats, built floors, plots shops, commercial space as the case was, with ABW. In ABW Aditya Niketan and City Centre, a residential plotted colony, on 104.912 acres of land with 236 plots, 1488 of floors/flats and 269 shops and comme....
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....f 2019 (in M.A. 864 of 2019) was moved by HSIIDC for yet another extension. It was therefore submitted that although a comprehensive direction was passed by this Court specifically in favour of the innocent allottees, HSIIDC's inaction has resulted in nothing even after a lapse of 15 months. The Society had moved a contempt proceeding, Contempt Petition No.2226 of 2018 against HSIIDC as well. The Society is therefore seeking urgent directions, to HSIIDC for completion of its responsibilities. 82. It was further urged that given that HSIIDC has demonstrably failed in complying with the terms of this judgment, it would be in the interest of all allottees that the land is handed over on an 'as is where is basis' to the respective buyers of plots, flats or commercial units and a direction issued consequently to HSIIDC to execute conveyance deeds. It is submitted that the Society and the buyers themselves will undertake the work of completing the project having regard to the fact that necessary approvals were granted in terms of License No.66 of 2009; the zoning plans have been approved and furthermore clearance was granted by the concerned Forest and Environment Departments. In addi....
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....llottees would not arise. Therefore, the HSIIDC would refund all unverified claims on pro rata basis to the allottees and those who had applied under the scheme together with 6% interest per annum from the date of this Court's judgment. 86. As found in the main judgment as well as the previous part of this judgment, ABW was one of the prime movers behind the entire subversion and abuse of the state machinery for acquisition of farmer's lands. ABW obtained licenses for 104.682 acres and floated schemes for plots with two-three storied structures and residential as well as commercial units. Despite the fact that licenses were granted way back, even as on the date of the judgment of this Court (and even now), no development has taken place. All that was asserted on behalf of the Society was that IDC and EDC amounts were paid. HSIIDC's stand is that these charges are in fact in arrears. Having regard to the totality of circumstances, this court is of the opinion that the claim by the Society that the lands be made over to it or the residents on an 'as is where is' basis for development by them is untenable. 87. The main judgment expressly stated that it is only in cases where....
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....y of Unitech, and Navin Rao too was an affiliate of Unitech. Applications were preferred by Unitech, and one Speed Town Planners Pvt. Ltd. (hereafter "Speed Town") which claimed to be entitled to rights to 19.56 acres. 90. In 2008, Girnar obtained license No. 175 of 2008 dated 30.09.2008 for developing a commercial colony on 2.443 acres out of the 19.56 acres of land. The license was granted by DTCP. Out of the 2.443 acres, an area of 1.5125 acres was notified under Section 4 of Acquisition Act, on 07.08.2013 and under Section 6 on 31.07.2013. Finally, 1.5125 acres of land was acquired under Award No. 13 dated 29.07.2016, for development and utilization of sectors roads (Sector 75 to 80) at Gurugram. Unitech urges that the acquisition of 1.5125 acres rendered the balance area of 0.93 acres to be commercially non-viable for any construction/development thereon as it was not be possible to consume the entire permissible FAR of 2.443 acres on the residual parcel of land. It is contended that an agreement to sell was executed on 14.03.2016 between Girnar as vendor and Speed Town as vendee for the sale of a portion of land admeasuring 9.69 acres, out of balance 17.116 (19.56 - 2.443 ....
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....2.08 acres (out of the total unlicensed land parcel of 17.117 acres), the residual land was under unauthorized cultivation since November 2020. 97. The applicants seek directions for exclusion of the lands from the deemed award, urging that they were not purchased from any farmers but rather from one Angelique International Ltd. (hereinafter, "Angelique"), a public limited company, through a registered sale deed executed on 23.08.2007. The main judgment was based on the premise that the land sellers were the farmers whose only source of income was agriculture. The entire tenor of the main judgement was therefore farmer-centric. In the case of Girnar, the position is entirely different since the land was purchased from a public limited company which was incorporated on 03.01.1996. It was submitted that the original owner, Angelique was a project engineering and construction company and the other assumptions based on which this Court delivered the main judgment, were inapplicable to it. Furthermore, the land parcels purchased by Angelique were mutated in the name of Girnar on 06.06.2006 and 23.08.2007 and, therefore, their ownership is prior to the dates of mutation. Hence, the se....
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....o Speed Town's transaction, because the entire premise, which persuaded the vendor to sell the lands, was that the acquisition proceedings would go through, divesting their title. However, the vendee and its holding company appeared to have full knowledge of the nature of future events, in which they probably had a hand. Thus, the request for exclusion of these lands, from the deemed award, is untenable and is accordingly rejected. Speed Town shall be entitled to the compensation to be decided, in respect of the land, on the same basis as in the case of all others entitled to it. 101. I.A. No. 128802-03/2020; I.A. No. 128807/2020 and I.A. No. 53868/2022 in M.A. No. 2228/2020; I.A. No. 31185/2021; I.A. No. 31180/2021; I.A. No. 31182/2021; I.A. Nos. 128798-99/2021; and I.A. No. 128801/2021 in MA (D) No. 5699/2021 are disposed off in the above terms. VII. Innovative Infradevelopers Pvt. Ltd. a. Legend Height Owners Welfare Association 102. 3.35 acres of agricultural land in Naurangpur was purchased by two individuals, i.e., Shri Ashok Kumar Lakhotia and Shri Subhash Chand Goyal by sale deeds dated 26.02.2004 and 08.03.2004. It was claimed that these two also obtained posse....
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....ive on 08.06.2017, whereby an area measuring 96,216.03 sq. ft. was agreed to be purchased by it for a total consideration of Rs. 16 crores. The areas sold was for a hotel block. The relevant condition stipulated that out of Rs. 16 crores payable by the buyer, Rs. 8.05 crores, by way of outstanding dues of one Ms. Saraswati Devi was agreed to be adjusted. Another sum of Rs. 4.24 crores by way of outstanding dues of Paramveer, was agreed to be adjusted. The balance amount was to be paid in the ratio of 55:45 respectively. 106. Paramveer therefore contends that it is entitled to the built-up space in respect of the hotel block constructed by Innovative. c. Analysis of VII (a) and (b) 107. HSIIDC in its response to the special leave petition and the applications (by Legend Heights Association and Paramveer) submits that no construction has been undertaken with respect to the hotel block. It is argued that this Court should not take cognizance of submissions on behalf of Paramveer since no credible material has been placed on record to establish the genuineness of the transactions claimed by it. As far as the commercial complex of Legend Heights is concerned, HSIIDC points out ....
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....t certain amounts (over Rs. 12 crores) were due and payable to the allottees, which was subsequently adjusted in the builder buyer agreement for the hotel. The details of those transactions have nowhere been verified or placed on record. In addition, Innovative has stated that construction of the hotel block has not taken place. In the circumstances, all rights, title and interest in those portions of Innovatives' properties shall vest in HSIIDC and be part of the deemed award. 113. Needless to add, Innovative shall be entitled to amounts like in the case of all other developers/owners in accordance with the main judgment. HSIIDC shall verify its claims. In the event of any dispute in this regard, Innovative is at liberty to press its claim in substantiative legal proceedings and not their miscellaneous applications before this court. I.A. No. 41690/2021 in M.A. (D) No. 7775 of 2021; I.A. No. 84064-67/2020; I.A. No. 91091/2020; I.A. No. 84067 of 2020 in M.A. No. 50/2019 and SLP No. 2147 of 2021 are disposed off in the above terms. VIII. Dharamvir & Ors. 114. 105 individuals approached the Punjab & Haryana High Court, through a common writ petition, claiming directions that....
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....ate machinery to withdraw from the acquisition. The prices of land had risen astronomically by then. Taking all these facts into consideration, as well as the fact that developers had proceeded to develop properties and construct buildings in which units were sold or allotted, this Court allowed only one kind of exception, i.e., that bona fide purchasers of such units, flats or shops etc. to be vested with title. In respect of all unallotted, unconstructed land as well as buildings and land forming part of each of such project, title was to vest in HSIIDC. 117. Wherever development agreements were entered into and licenses issued, and no activity took place in the form of construction or development, land was to vest in HSIIDC. If the above thread of reasoning were to be considered, it is apparent that third-party bona fide purchasers who secured allotment by paying valuable considerations which is verifiable as a matter of fact (by independent material) was protected. In the case of all other transactions, however, such protection was not extended for the simple reason that there is no manner for verifying whether in fact a bona fide transaction of the kind alleged took place. ....
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....ng the suspect period whether in favor of the original land owner who might have entered into collaboration agreement and received monies, the transactions would fall within the mischief of transfer. Having regard to these conclusions, the applicants' apprehensions are unfounded. 120. As far as other steps with respect to acquisition are concerned, during the course of hearing, the Court was told that in respect of 365 acres of land, 185 references have been received. The State shall ensure that these are answered as expeditiously as possible the concerned reference courts are hereby directed to conclude all the proceedings in 185 references and pronounce the award in accordance with law within a period of one year from the date of this judgment. All rights and contentions of the parties are kept open. I.A. No. 118408/2020; I.A. No. 118410/2020 and I.A. No. 126826/2020 in M.A. No. 2149/2020 are disposed off in the above terms. The applications on behalf of the State and HSIIDC (I.A. 2254/2019 and I.A. 100745/2020 in M.A. No. 50/2019; and I.A. 93822/2019 in M.A. No. 1175/2019) are also accordingly disposed off. Conclusions and Directions: 121. In the light of the above disc....
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....d is entitled to statutory benefits such as interest, solatium etc. on such determined compensation. g. Lands measuring 2.9875 acres and 10.881 acres respectively belonging to R.P. Estates and Subros, are excluded from the deemed award. h. With respect to Express Greens (DLF), contentions to exclude the project from the deemed award are rejected. It is directed that: (i) HSIIDC shall complete the process of validating the title of allottees, including the title to the undivided and proportionate land share, within six months from the date of this judgment; (ii) HSIIDC shall notify the balance allottees about the execution of sale deed - the process of execution and registration of sale deed to be completed within six months from the date of this judgment. HSIIDC shall ensure that a designated nodal officer is deployed to scrutinize the relevant documents and facilitate the execution of such sale deeds; and (iii) All rights, title and interest in respect of the unsold 39 townhouses in the independent floors vests with the HSIIDC, which shall deal with them in accordance with its policies and applicable laws. Likewise, in case of unsold ap....
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....umer Protection Act, 1986. It is clarified that no proceeding, application or contempt petition in this regard, will be entertained by this Court. j. With respect to ABW, it is directed that HSIIDC to refund the amounts payable to the allottees of the entire project, i.e., allottees of residential units/plots and commercial or shop space, within the next twelve months from the date of this judgment, failing which interest at the rate of 6% per annum shall be levied from date of default. The lands of ABW shall form part of the deemed award. k. With respect to Speed Town, the contentions to exclude the land from the deemed award are rejected. It is held that Speed Town shall be entitled to the compensation to be decided, in respect of the land, on the same basis as in the case of all others entitled to it. l. With respect Paramveer, the contentions to exclude the hotel block from the deemed award are rejected. All rights, title and interest in those portions of Innovative's properties shall vest in HSIIDC and be part of the deemed award. Innovative shall be entitled to amounts like in the case of all other developers/owners in accordance with the main judgm....
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....der/developer, which include, but are not limited to, insisting full payment before handing over possession to the allottees. 122. I.A. No. 112515/2020; I.A. No. 117025/2020; I.A. No. 118401/2020; I.A. No.116268/2020; I.A. No. 111557/ 2020, I.A. No. 111562/2020; I.A. No. 111563/2020; I.A. No. 116120/2021; I.A. No. 116128/2021, I.A. No. 123690/2021; I.A. No. 110995/ 2019, I.A. No. 91793/ 2020; I.A. No. 113206/ 2020; I.A. No. 36484-85/2020; I.A. No. 36487; I.A. No. 89570/ 2020; I.A. No. 31079-81/2022; I.A. No. 102358/2019; I.A. No. 189667/2019; I.A. No. 62216/2020; I.A. No. 42263/2022; I.A. No. 49262 of 2022; I.A. No. 75955/2020; I.A. No. 83251/2020; I.A. No. 76605/2020; I.A. No. 76602/2020; I.A. No. 31185/2021; I.A. No. 31180/2021; I.A. No. 31182/2021; I.A. No. 128802- 03/2020; I.A. No. 128807/2020; I.A. No. 128798-99/2021; I.A. No. 53868/2022; I.A. No. 128801/2021; I.A. No. 91091/2020; I.A. No. 41690/2021; I.A. No. 84064-65 of 2020; I.A. No. 84066 of 2020; I.A. No. 84067/2020; I.A. No. 118408/2020; I.A. No. 118410/2020; I.A. No. 126826/2020; I.A. 2254/2019; I.A. 93822/2019; I.A. 100745/2020; I.A. No. 46028/2020, I.A. No. 30807/2020; I.A. No. 191983/2019; I.A. No. 192027/2019; I.....