Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 31: On a day the Supreme Court’s bench strength increased to 33 with the swearing-in of nine new judges, highest ever in a single day, the apex court on Tuesday delivered an epoch-making judgement upholding the order of the Allahabad High Court directing the demolition of twin 40-storey towers in the Emerald Court project in Noida for violation of building norms.
A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud directed that the entire amount of home buyers be refunded with 12 per cent interest from the time of the booking and the Residents Welfare Association be paid Rs 2 crore for the harassment caused due to the construction of the twin towers.
The bench gave three months’ time to carry out the demolition exercise of the twin towers under the supervision of NOIDA and an expert agency and the cost of the entire exercise has to be borne by Supertech Ltd, the builder of the twin towers. It said the construction of Supertech’s twin 40 storey towers having 915 flats and shops was done in collusion with NOIDA authority and the high court was correct in holding that view.
On August 4, the top court had reserved its verdict on the batch of pleas while reprimanding NOIDA authority saying it was reeking with corruption and had connived with the builder over not providing the sanctioned plan to the homebuyers of Supertech’s Emerald Court project. It had said when the homebuyers asked for the plan, the authority wrote to the developer on whether to share it and refused to give the plan to them at the developer’s behest.
The top court had earlier said what Supertech Ltd has done is “palpably wrong”, as the towers were constructed by encroaching upon the green common area of the housing society. The court had also added that it was only after the high court expressly directed the NOIDA authority to give the plan that it did so.
Realty firm Supertech Ltd had defended the construction of twin towers and claimed no illegality. It had said Supertech had lost the case before the high court on two counts — distance criteria and not taking consent of home buyers before constructing those towers.
The homebuyers association has claimed that the huge twin towers constructed by the builder were not in the original plan shown to them at the time of booking and it has blocked their view, fresh air and sunlight.
On April 11, 2014, the Allahabad High Court ordered the demolition of the two buildings within four months and the refund of money to apartment buyers.
Earlier in the day, the chief justice of India NV Ramana administered the oath to nine new judges including three women judges increasing the bench strength of the apex court to 33 including the CJI, out of the sanctioned strength of 34. It is for the first time in the history of the apex court that nine judges took oath of office at one go.
The government’s nod to appoint nine judges comes a week after the Supreme Court collegium ending a nearly two-year-long impasse, sent its recommendations. The list has three women including justice BV Nagarathna who could become the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027. Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka will be the most senior among the nine judges.
Others in the list include, in order of seniority, Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Vikram Nath, Sikkim High Court Chief Justice J K Maheshwari, Telangana High Court Chief Justice Hima Kohli, Karnataka High Court judge Justice B V Nagarathna, Justice C T Ravikumar of Kerala High Court, Justice M M Sundaresh of Madras High Court, Justice Bela Trivedi of Gujarat High Court, and senior advocate P S Narasimha.
Justices Nath, Nagarathna and senior advocate Narasimha will join the line of succession for the office of the CJI. While Justice Nath and Narasimha are likely to have a tenure of just over six months, the expected first woman CJI is likely to have a relatively short tenure of just over a month.
With the additions, the apex court will have four women judges for the first time — Justices Nagarathna, Kohli and Trivedi, besides Justice Indira Banerjee, the only woman judge in SC at present.
