High number of real-estate disputes in Delhi, Mumbai hitting builders’ reputation: SC

Expressing concern over the rising number of cases of homebuyers in Delhi-NCR and redevelopment projects in Mumbai, the Supreme Court has said that it’s adversely affecting real-estate developers’ reputation.

“This problem of real estate is very severe in these two places. In Delhi-NCR, there are lakhs and lakhs of homebuyers affected by housing projects. In Mumbai, it’s the case with the redevelopment projects. Nowhere this happens. In Gujarat, you will not find a single case where there are disputes with regard to real-estate projects. This affects the reputation of real-estate developers,” a Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice PB Varale said on Friday.

While hearing a dispute on re-development of a Mumbai housing society, the Bench said the magnitude of real-estate cases was severe in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai.

Justice Pardiwala asked the lawyers appearing in the matter on behalf of different builders to ponder over the issue.

The top court has been dealing with several real-estate disputes related to Unitech, Amrapali Group, Jaypee and Supertech Group, where thousands of homebuyers are contesting delayed possession of their flats by the developers.