Mumbai: Court rules in favour of MHADA to exclude 47-acre Goregaon land in liquidation process of company

A city bankruptcy court has excluded a 47-acre land in Goregaon from the liquidation process of Guruashish Construction Pvt. Ltd. - a subsidiary of Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL). This was on an application of Maharashtra Housing And Area Development Authority (MHADA).

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) while permitting MHADA’s application observed that a liquidator cannot include the asset as a part of the liquidation estate, as it is not owned by the debtor.

The senior counsel for the development authority had argued that MHADA is the owner of the property. The tribunal, in its order, observed that the company had violated the joint development agreement (JDA) and hence MHADA was well within its rights to terminate its agreement with the builder. The agreement was terminated in Jan 2018 as the realty company did not complete the construction within the stipulated timeline. It had completed around 40 percent of the work..

The Tribunal also noted that the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in an order of December 2018 had stated that the land of the MHADA was handed over to the company and except for development work the company has not accrued any right over the land.

The city tribunal stated in its order that the land belongs to MHADA which has not formally transferred it in favour of the Corporate Debtor, hence it cannot be treated to be the asset of Guruashish Construction.

The Union Bank of India had approached the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against the realtor after it failed to repay dues of around Rs 522 crore.