Supertech's twin towers will be demolished by May 22, SC told

The Noida authorities on Monday told the Supreme Court that demolition work of Supertech's twin 40-storey towers in its Emerald Court project has started and demolition works will be completed by May 22.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant was also informed that the entire debris would be removed by August 22 from the site by M/S Edifice.

Senior advocate Ravindra Kumar for the Noida project told the apex court that pursuant to the order of the Court of February 7, a meeting of all stakeholders was held on February 9 where it was decided that by February 20 M/S Edifice (the firm chosen to carry out the demolition work) would mobilise the site with manpower, material and machine and that it shall commence and complete all activities as per the plan approved by Noida.

The twin towers would be demolished on or before May 22, and only in the event of unforeseen events, the dates can be changed, but that would be done after receiving prior approval of the court, the top court was further informed.

Kumar said orders of the apex court are being complied with and photographs regarding the work have been attached with the status report.

The bench in its order said, "The court has been apprised of the fact that the demolition has commenced at the site. All concerned stakeholders including Noida and Supertech as well as other authorities would strictly comply with the time schedule indicated in the status report for completion of the demolition."

The apex court while seeking an updated status report from Noida now listed the matter for hearing on May 17.

On February 7, the top court had asked the CEO, Noida to take necessary steps to commence the work to complete the demolition of Supertech's twin towers in Noida within two weeks.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant directed the CEO Noida to convene a meeting of all concerned agencies within 72 hours to finalise the schedule for the demolition of the twin towers.

"The CEO Noida shall take all necessary steps for observing directions of this court, work of demolition shall commence no later than two weeks from this order," the apex court had ordered.

Before that, the bench had asked Supertech Ltd to execute a contract within a week with a company to demolish its twin towers.

The top court was told by the Noida authority that Edifice Engineering has been chosen to carry out the demolition of twin towers in consultation with the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) Roorkee.

The apex court had earlier dismissed a plea of Supertech seeking modification of August 31, 2021 order by which it was directed to demolish two of its 40-storey towers at its Emerald Court housing project.

While directing the demolition of two towers over grave violations of building norms, the top court had said that it was a result of "nefarious complicity" between Noida Authority and the Supertech and ordered that company shall carry out the demolition at its own expense within three months under the supervision of the Noida Authority and an expert body like the Central Building Research Institute.

The order had come on a batch of petitions filed by homebuyers for and against the April 11, 2014 verdict of the Allahabad High Court, which had ordered the demolition of the two buildings within four months and the refund of money to apartment buyers.

( With inputs from ANI )