The Supreme Court has cancelled the Rera registration of the Amrapali Group. In a relief to homebuyers, the SC also asked NBCC to complete pending projects. SC has cancelled the registration of the Amrapali group under the Rera The SC bench asks NBCC to complete all pending projects of the Amrapali group Enforcement Directorate directed to investigate alleged money laundering by Amrapali officials In a big relief to thousands of homebuyers left in the lurch by their builders, the Supreme Court has cancelled the registration of real estate major Amrapali group under the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) and lease of its properties granted by Noida and Greater Noida authorities. The Supreme Court also appointed the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) to complete all the pending projects of the Amrapali group. Pronouncing the verdict on the stalled projects of the embattled Amrapali Group, the SC directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate money laundering by officials and directors of the Amrapali Group. The bench said the home buyers' money was diverted in violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the foreign direct investment (FDI) norms. The bench also appointed senior advocate R Venkataramani as the court receiver in whom the rights of all the Amrapali properties will be vested after the cancellation of lease. The SC said Venkataramani will have the power to enter into any tri-party agreement for sale of the group's properties to recover the dues. The SC also asked Noida and Greater Noida to handover a completion certificate to the flat buyers who are already residing in various projects of the group. A bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, directed cancellation of registration of all Amrapali group of companies and directs Enforcement Directorate to conduct a detailed investigation against the group for diverting home-buyers' money. 'CAN'T TAKE OVER STALLED PROJECTS' The Supreme Court had reserved the verdict in the matter on May 10 after Noida and Greater Noida authorities said they don't have the resources and expertise to construct the stalled projects of Amrapali Group. This came after the Supreme Court said it may give ownership rights of all the 15 prime residential properties of Amrapali to Noida and Greater Noida Authorities as it has failed to fulfil its obligations towards 42,000 home buyers. The bench had then reserved its verdict on the question as to who will take over the management control and which builder or developer should finish the stalled projects of Amrapali. The court had asked Noida authority to explain what action it has taken against Amrapali group which was a "chronic defaulter" in payment of lease amount. Noida authority said under their jurisdiction they have seven projects of Amrapali and they have an outstanding of nearly Rs 2,000 crore while they had received only Rs 505 crore. It had conceded that besides issuing repetitive show cause notices to Amrapali group for defaulting in payments to Noida, they have not done anything. Similar stand was taken by Greater Noida authority which had said that Amrapali Group has five projects under its jurisdiction out of which four are vacant lands and no construction has taken place. Greater Noida authority had said Amrapali has an outstanding of around 3400 crores and has paid only Rs 363 crores till now. After the reluctance shown by Noida and Greater Noida, the top court had indicated that the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) Limited could be one of the option to complete the stalled projects. THE TIMELINE The trouble started in April 2013 when raids revealed that Amrapali had completed zero projects from 2009 to 2015 In 2015, 900 families staying in a Amrapali housing society claimed that they were not getting water and electricity. Cricketer MS Dhoni then quit as the brand ambassador in 2016 after people apprised him about incomplete projects on social media. Two years later, he sued Amrapali for Rs 150 crore. In 2017, homebuyers of Amrapali’s Dream Valley project moved the Supreme Court against its decision of insolvency proceedings against Amrapali Infrastructure. In October 2018, the court sent three Amrapali directors, Anil Sharma, Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar, to police custody after Amrapali failed to hand over balance sheets of 46 companies to auditors. AMRAPALI GROUP MD ARRESTED On February 28, the apex court had allowed the Delhi police to arrest Amrapali group CMD Anil Sharma and two directors on a complaint that home-buyers of their various housing projects were cheated and duped of their funds. The SC had also ordered attachment of personal properties of the CMD as also its directors -- Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar. Amrapali Group committed a "first degree crime" by cheating thousands of home buyers and no matter how powerful the people behind this mess they will be booked and prosecuted, the Supreme Court had said. "Fate is written on the wall" for the group and its directors, the SC had said while declining to hear their claims of no wrong doing. FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES FOUND The court appointed forensic auditors, Pawan Aggarwal and Ravinder Bhatia, found wide scale irregularities in the financial affairs of Amrapali group and their initial report has suggested that over Rs 3,000 crore of home buyers money. On May 8, the apex court had said it would throw Amrapali out from its properties and transfer its lock, stock and barrel to Noida and Greater Noida.