New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Wednesday told Jaypee Associates to deposit Rs 125 crore as directed failing which it would be held in contempt of court and could land in Tihar Jail.
The amount is part of the Rs 2,000 crore that the top court had directed Jaypee Associates to deposit with its registry to pay the home buyers of Jaypee Infratech seeking a refund of their money.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud also directed Jaypee Associates to file an affidavit stating all the housing projects they were developing.
The court said that it would only at a later stage see an application by the Reserve Bank of India seeking the top court's nod for initiating proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) against Jaypee Associates.
The bench, which exempted the independent directors from personal appearance, however, reiterated its earlier direction that neither would they leave the country without its prior nod, nor would they alienate or create third party interests in their personal properties.
It said the interest of homebuyers was important and the JAL will have to deposit the money in pursuance of its earlier order.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and lawyer Anupam Lal Das, appearing for JAL, said they have sold several properties and where in the midst of loan restructuring.
They said JAL would be depositing Rs 125 crore more by January 25 as directed by the apex court on December 15 last year to safeguard the interests of hassled homebuyers.
JAL has deposited Rs 425 crore with the apex court registry so far.
Earlier, the top court had restrained 13 directors -- five promoters and eight independent directors -- from alienating their personal properties as well as that of their immediate family members.
The apex court's direction that the directors shall not alienate their or their family members' personal properties in any manner implies freezing of their assets.
The apex court, on November 13 last year, had also restrained the managing director and the directors of Jaypee Infratech Ltd from travelling abroad without prior permission.
The court had asked Jaypee Infratech to hand over the records to the interim resolution professional (IRP) to draft a resolution plan indicating protection of interests of over 32,000 hassled home buyers and creditors.
Homebuyers including one Chitra Sharma, through lawyer Ashwarya Sinha, had moved the apex court saying around 32,000 people had booked their flats and were now paying instalments.
The top court had on September 4, 2017, the stayed insolvency proceedings against the real estate firm before the NCLT.
Flat buyers, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of 2016, do not fall in the category of secured creditors like banks and hence can get back their money only if something is left after repaying the secured and operational creditors, Sharma, in her plea, said.
Hundreds of home buyers have been left in the lurch after the NCLT, on August 10, 2017, admitted the IDBI Bank's plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the debt-ridden realty company for defaulting on a Rs 526 crore loan, the plea said
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