Above: Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra

Sanjay Chandra, a promoter of real estate firm Unitech has asked for bail which, apparently, will allow him to service the people who are demanding allotment of the flats they have paid for or refund with interest.

When he asked the court for bail, the Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud suggested that he could sell the flats (to recover money to pay the dues) from jail.

On the last dater of hearing Abhimanyu Bhandari, counsel for the petitioner had asked for six months time “and let me sit in my office as I am not running from refund. I need breathing time”.

The amicus had informed the court that of the 74 projects 13 had been delivered and 61 have not been. There are 23,931 flats in all in the project. The CJI had suggested that the money from the petitioner shall be deposited with the court. The rest will be raised through auction.

On Monday the amicus reported that Unitech has so far refunded Rs 1,865 crores to 962 buyers.

To a query from the CJI, senior counsel Ranjit Kumar, for the petitioner, said that 4,688 people want refund and 4,356 people want possession.

At that the counsel said: “With the managing director and executive director in jail, how can we return the money? We have deposited around
Rs 130 crores in other SLPs. Grant me six weeks time and we will deposit money. We will sell a few projects.”

That I when the CJI suggested that sales can happen in the company even when the top bosses are in jail. “Deposit Rs 1,000 crores and go out,” said the CJI.

The counsel tried to explain that if the top people are inside jail “my properties will not fetch the required amount”.

The CJI said: “We are hearing this petition in the interest of homebuyers and not of investors.”

The matter has been listed for next Monday.

—India Legal Bureau