The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday admitted Raheja Developers Limited to the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) after a plea was filed by homebuyers over non-delivery of homes. .The Tribunal has appointed an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP), tasked with running the affairs of the company for the time being. The IRP has been directed to submit a report on the progress of the CIRP by January 22, 2025..The homebuyers had booked apartments in a project by Raheja Developers called "Raheja Shilas” located at Sector 109, Gurugram, Haryana. While the project was supposed to be delivered between 2012 and 2014, it had not been delivered as of 2023. This prompted the homebuyers to move the NCLT under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC).According to the homebuyers, the company claimed ownership of the project land, backed by licenses and registrations from regulatory authorities, including the Director of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).Relying on these representations, they booked units in the project, signed agreements, and paid over 95% of the total sale price. However, Raheja Developers failed to deliver possession of the units even after the agreed timeline, including an extended grace period.They further claimed that the project was carved out of another development, "Raheja Atharva," without obtaining any prior approval. .Raheja Developers argued that the delays in delivering the homes were caused by factors beyond its control. It stated that the petition does not meet statutory requirements, as the 43 applicants before the NCLT represent less than 10% of the project’s 822 units of ‘Raheja Atharva’.It also argued that the claims are time-barred, stating that the default occurred between 2012 and 2014, while the petition was filed in 2023. The company told the NCLT that it had invested ₹435 crore in the project and claimed some applicants have outstanding payments..The NCLT coram of President Justice (retd) Ramalingam Sudhakar and Technical Member Avinash Srivastava found that Raheja Developers had registered Raheja Silas as a separate project with the RERA and hence, the project would be treated as a standalone.“Therefore, applicants, 43 in number out of 94 (total units in the impugned project) fulfill the threshold of 10% or 100 in number whichever is less.”On the aspect of whether the delay is attributable to reasons beyond the control of Raheja, the NCLT noted that since its a big and reputed developer, the company must definitely be aware of the obstacles they would face in building such projects. The order said, “The plea of delay being force majeure is taken by the CD (Raheja) shall not apply to the facts of the present case because the difficulty is not such which is beyond the control of the CD. In this case, CD has entered into a litigation with government Department. Therefore, it cannot be termed as force majeure clause. The hurdles stated by CD in its reply, affidavits and written submissions are not something which can be termed as the force majeure or beyond the control of CD or unforeseeable. Statutory compliances, NOC, OC etc. are the part and parcel of such real estate projects.”.On the limitation aspect, the NCLT concluded that while the possession was to be given in the year 2012-2014 with a grace period of 6 months, the debt has been acknowledged vide various emails and the default is a continuing one. Therefore, the applications are within the period of limitation. The Tribunal also turned down the request to admit this project alone for insolvency and the IBC as the CIRP rules do not empower the NCLT to do so. The homebuyers were represented by Advocates Manu Chaturvedi and Devika Singh Ray Chowdhary.Raheja was represented by Senior Advocate P Nagesh, along with Advocates Manmeet Kaur, Suditi, Abhishek Rana and Akshay Sharma..[Read order]
