Emrald Towers:SC dismisses Supertech's plea seeking modification

The Supreme Court dismissed an application moved by Supertech Limited seeking modification of direction to raze the realty firm's twin 40-storey towers in Noida and allowing it to only partially demolish 224 flats of one tower along with its community area on the ground floor to conform with the building norms. The apex court said that grant of such a relief is in the nature of a review of the judgement of this court and in various decisions.The filing of applications styled as ‘miscellaneous applications’ or applications for clarifications in the guise for review cannot be countenanced, it emphasised. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna said that there is no substance in the application filed by Supertech Ltd and hence it is dismissed.

In its application, Supertech Limited has said that due to the proximity of Tower-17 (Ceyane) with the other residential towers in its Emerald Court project, it cannot demolish the building by blowing through explosives and it would have to be done brick by brick. “The underlying basis of the proposed modifications is that if the same are allowed, it would save crores of resources from going to waste inasmuch as the applicant has already put materials worth crores of rupees in the construction of the Towers T-16 (Apex) and T-17 (Ceyane),” the company has said, while clarifying that it was not seeking review of August 31 order.

On 31 August, the top court had ordered the demolition of Supertech Limited's twin 40-storey towers under construction within three months for violation of building norms in "collusion” with NOIDA officials, holding that illegal construction has to be dealt with strictly to ensure compliance with the rule of law.