Producer: Maaz Hasan
Video Editor: Nitin Bisht
For the homebuyers who booked flats at Jaypee Greens Wish Town in Noida, Sector 128, their dreams of having their own home have turned into a nightmare as delays in possession and litigation have taken over a decade.
"We homebuyers have named this Wish Town a witch town. It has become a witch for us," Sanjeev Sahani told us while showing his incomplete tower where he booked his flat at Wish Town in the Kube project.
Narrating his ordeal, Sanjeev said, "I booked an apartment for myself in 2010 to be delivered by 2013 or mid-2014. Till 2013, they had constructed about 18 floors of the planned 33-storey building. By 2013, we had already paid 80% of the total cost of the flat. No construction took place from 2014-2017."
In 2017, insolvency proceedings were initiated against the builder, Jaiprakash Infratech Limited (JIL), when it failed to deliver the flats on time and defaulted on loans. With that, the hard-earned money of over 17,000 homebuyers across 19 JIL projects got stuck in the vicious cycle of litigation.
Suman Virmani, one of the 17,000 homebuyers across JIL projects, has been badly affected by the delays in the possession of the flat. She booked the flat in 2011 at Wish Town in the Krescent Homes project.
"It's almost 13-14 years, and we are still waiting (for the possession of our flat). We have been in IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) for seven years. Can you believe that? For the last seven years, we have been struggling, and what we get is just date after date," said a visibly dejected Suman.
Suman, a single woman, invested over 76 lakh by taking a loan from the bank in a dream of owning a house which has now turned into a nightmare.
"I invested in the flat under the subvention plan, which means I paid a 95% down payment. But I never got possession, and I continued to pay the EMIs for such a long time, and since it was a hefty amount, it was pinching me. There was land that my father owned. We thought of selling that off. I inherited that from my father after he passed away. I sold the land and paid off the loan. Today, I don't have that land or the flat, and all my savings are gone."Suman Virmani, Homebuyer, Jaypee Greens Wish Town
The delays in the litigation process at NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) have also added to the miseries of homebuyers. Tejender Khanna, a senior citizen and another homebuyer of the Krescent Homes project, is worried if he will get possession of his flat - a flat he booked in 2012- in his lifetime.
"We have been struggling for the last 10-15 years. We are paying rents, interests, EMIs and fighting the case in the courts. An individual who has booked a house in the society has to pay the lawyers to fight the case in court. Is this fair? I don't see a solution in this lifetime. Several of our homebuyer friends died in this process."Tejender Khanna, Homebuyer, Jaypee Greens Wish Town
Homebuyers want the government and the Supreme Court to step into the matter and resolve the matter swiftly. "I request the central government and the Supreme Court of India to have mercy on us. We wanted to buy a flat. We didn't sign up for a legal fight," said Tejender.
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