The Supreme Court on Wednesday clarified that neither it nor the Government-appointed Board of Directors of Unitech has authorized any person to act as an intermediary to collect any charges from the Company's home buyers or any other person for providing an update with regard to the court proceedings.
A Division Bench comprising of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah further observed that the collection of any such charges is unauthorized and would amount to a serious act of professional misconduct.
"It becomes necessary to clarify in the interest of the home buyers and FD holders that neither this Court nor the Government appointed Board of Directors of Unitech has authorized any person to act as an intermediary to collect any charges from the home buyers or any other person for providing an update in regard to proceedings. The collection of any such charges is unauthorized and would amount to a serious act of professional misconduct and invite serious consequences under the law."
The Bench passed these directions after it came to the court's attention that certain Whatsapp messages are in circulation for providing update services to home buyers and FD holders against the payment of fees. One such Whatsapp message under the heading "Unitech Amicus" is placed on the record.
The Court further clarified that all relevant updates would be provided only on the web portal maintained by the present management of Unitech.
Currently, the Board appointed by the Union Government is in place for Unitech. In April, 2022, the Court appointed a former Supreme Court Judge Abhay Manohar Sapre to ensure transparency and objectivity in all transactions undertaken by the Board.
It also issued a show cause notice to advocate Aneesh Mittal, who allegedly circulated the WhatsApp message and asked him to file an affidavit giving details about the money he has collected from various people.
"Any homebuyer or employee is at liberty to reach the management with his grievance on the web portal. The portal shall be maintained by the management exclusively," the bench said.
In order to facilitate refunds for the homebuyers of Unitech, the Supreme Court in May asked the appointed amicus to open the Web Portal for a further period of 4 weeks which was earlier directed to be only opened till May 15, 2022.
To alleviate the extreme hardships being faced by Senior Citizens and FD holders belonging in the category of 65-75 years, above 75 years and persons with urgent medical needs, the Supreme Court had earlier directed the appointed amicus in the Unitech matter to open the web portal until May 15, 2022.
The matter will be next heard on August 4.
Case Title: Bhupinder Singh vs Unitech
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