Sink or die, investors need to be paid back: SC to Supertech

New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) Supreme Court today gave a sternmessage to Supertech asking it to return money to investorssaying it was not concerned whether the real estate major"sinks or dies", a direction which may soothe ruffled feathersof hassled home buyers waiting endlessly for their dreamhomes. "Either you (Supertech) sink or die, we are notconcerned. You will have to pay back the money to home buyers.We are least bothered about the financial status," a bench ofJustices Dipak Misra and Adarsh Kumar Goel said when it waspointed out that some builders have said they had no funds topay back the home buyers. The apex court directed Supertech to pay 10 per cent permonth of the invested amount from January 5, 2015 to 17 homebuyers, who are before the court, within four weeks. It said the real estate firm has to clear the arrears tothe home buyers in four weeks, which can be adjusted and askedSupertech to furnish a chart of payments made to 17 of them onthe next date of hearing. Senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for Supertech,said the apex court "cannot act like a banker" and has tofollow principle of equality. "Not all home buyers are against us and some of them haveeven supported the firm and filed an appeal against the HighCourt order," he said, adding "there is a difference betweenUnitech’s case and us. They did not have a building while wehave a building and funds invested with us have been used forconstruction of structure." He said a total of 628 people had approached the company,of whom 274 have sought alternate arrangements, 74 asked forre-investment and 108 have sought refund. To this, the bench asked why Supertech was not givingback the money to all the investors. Dhawan said there was a court order saying only those whohave applied on time will get the money back and it was payingback the money to them. Counsels for home buyers refuted Supertech’s claim andsaid they were not getting the money on time. (More) PTI MNLSJK RKSARC