16 years, Rs 50 lakh lost: How Supertech delays are costing homebuyers lakhs

Vinod Kumar’s daughter was a little girl when he booked their home in Greater Noida. She is 17 now, his son is in college — and Kumar, now 51, is still waiting for the flat. He invested in Supertech’s Eco Village 2 in 2012 and made his final payment in 2015.

More than a decade later, he is living in Delhi and paying rent while servicing the loan for a home that remains unfinished. “I cannot begin to express my pain,” Kumar said. “We are living under so much stress that I’ve developed blood pressure and even start feeling dizzy sometimes.” The delay feels even more cruel because his tower is close to completion.

“In my tower, possession for just two floors is pending. If we get it, at least my rent will be saved,” he said. “Iss flat ne zindagi barbaad kardi hai (this flat has ruined my life).” Kumar’s story is not an isolated one.

Across 16 stalled Supertech projects in Noida and Greater Noida, thousands of middle-class homebuyers have spent years waiting for construction to finish and fighting legal battles. Kumar said he even filed a case in the State Consumer Commission in 2017.

“Then the Covid lockdown hit, and the case kept getting delayed. After that, the builders went into insolvency. We are struggling till date.” On August 25, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) took note of the sluggish pace of construction across these projects.

It has now sought a comprehensive status report from NBCC, the state-owned project management consultant, which has been tasked with completing them. During the hearing, the counsel representing the homebuyers expressed deep concern over ongoing deviations from the project implementation timeline established by the court-appointed committee and NBCC.

The petitioners represent societies like Sports Village, Ecovillage 1, 2, and 3, UP Country, and Czar Suites in Greater Noida, alongside Ecociti, Romano, Capetown, and North Eye in Noida. For some buyers, even getting possession has not ended the ordeal.

At Eco Village 1 in Greater Noida, an unfinished tower still stands at the entrance, a tower crane looming beside it. Residents and auto-rickshaws move along the paved roads, past the skeletal concrete structures. It is here that B N Gupta booked a 2BHK flat in March 2010.

He was supposed to get it in 2013, but construction did not begin initially and only picked up in 2017-18. “This is how builders work these days: they take 90 percent of the money and finish only 50 percent of the work,” he fumed.

Gupta said he spent seven years running from one court to another and found no relief. “This is my biggest pain — waiting for a house. Only I know how much mental stress I’ve faced. I was constantly depressed. It affects your job, your family life, everything.” Gupta finally received physical possession of his flat in 2021, but the official registry remains stalled.

“It is a straight loss of Rs 50 lakh. I can’t even sell it now to gain any money. I booked this home when I was young and wasted 16 years of my life on it. Imagine, you pay for a car today and get it in 10 years — how bad would that feel?” His frustration is echoed by Mrityunjay Kumar Jha, 46, a buyer in Eco Village 3.

The registry for his flat, which he purchased in 2016 and received possession a year later, is also stalled. “We have to pay higher EMIs. We can neither transfer the loan, nor are we getting even half the property’s value if we try to sell the house,” Jha said.

Around 30,000 homebuyers are awaiting possession across 16 major stalled projects, according to the Enforcement Directorate which is probing a Rs 700-crore money laundering case against Supertech promoter Ram Kishore Arora.