NOIDA: The Allahabad high court has quashed an order by the real estate regulatory authority (Rera) in the state against Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and granted the infrastructure giant permission to sell flats in its Green Reserve project in Sector 128.
In an Oct 1 ruling, the bench of Justices Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Prashant Kumar said Rera’s notice to L&T – describing the sale of flats as illegal over lack of registration – did not hold as the project was deemed registered in the absence of any response from the authority to the realtor’s application within the stipulated 30-day period.
The court referred to Section 5(2) of the Rera Act, which mandates that the authority should either approve or reject an application for registration of a project within 30 days. If not, the project would automatically be considered registered.
The bench allowed L&T to continue with its advertisements regarding the sale of flats, saying no penalty could be imposed on the company under Section 3 of the Rera Act. It also rejected Rera’s insistence on Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL) being considered a co-promoter in the project.
Rera was also asked to issue necessary registration numbers and access credentials to L&T.
It was in July 2017 that L&T acquired development rights over a portion of land allotted to JIL through an agreement. The company paid Rs 487.5 crore to JIL and secured a general power of attorney that authorised it to develop the Green Reserve project, which comprises four towers.
On June 2 last year, L&T applied for a Rera registration for Towers 1 and 2. The regulatory authority, however, rejected the application on July 6, 2023, citing “technical issues”. It also said that JIL should be included as one of the promoters in the project as the land was allotted in its name. Rera then sought a clarification from Suraksha Group, which acquired JIL, that the land on which Green Reserve was being built was not part of any insolvency proceedings.
On July 21 that year, L&T applied again, saying it was well within its rights to develop the project and sell flats because it had secured power of attorney from JIL. Rera continued to raise objections, insisting that JIL should be considered a co-promoter, but did not formally reject the application.
L&T filed a third registration application with Rera on Aug 23 last year, this time for Towers 3 and 4.
Again – on Sept 2 and Sept 11, 2023 – Rera sent notices to L&T, asking the company to explain why JIL was not listed as a promoter for Towers 1 and 2. L&T maintained its stance, arguing that JIL’s role was limited to executing sub-lease deeds in favour of homebuyers in keeping with the agreement signed between them.
Following this inaction over its applications, L&T came out with advertisements for the sale of its flats.
But on May 8 this year, Rera issued a notice to the realtor, saying it had violated Section 3 of the Rera Act by allowing a private agency to issue ads on the Green Reserve project on its website.
L&T challenged this notice in the high court, arguing that the project was already deemed registered as Rera had not formally rejected its application within 30 days.
