Supreme Court Orders CBI to Probe Fresh Homebuyer Complaints in Subvention Scheme Scam

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The Supreme Court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate new complaints filed by homebuyers against several real estate firms across the country. The complaints allege that builders have failed to deliver houses under the subvention scheme, with banks demanding installment payments despite the builders' default. The court's direction came in a batch of petitions where it is monitoring the progress of 25 regular cases registered by CBI against banks, financial institutions, and real estate firms. While investigation in three cases has been completed, the CBI has reported that the cases were registered in response to the court's orders in July and September last year. The fresh complaints filed by homebuyers provide details of housing projects in Noida, Greater Noida, Sohna, Gurugram, Chennai, and Bengaluru, involving big realty firms such as Supertech, Vatika Group, Ajnara, and Raheja Developers. The CBI has assured the court that it will make substantial progress in all 25 cases by the end of March this year. The court has also directed the concerned court to proceed with the charge sheet filed in three cases within two weeks. The court also took up non-subvention matters related to distressed Supertech projects, where state-owned NBCC Ltd has been roped in to complete construction. The court has formed a committee headed by a former high court judge to ensure completion of construction in the Supertech Supernova project. The court has posted the matter for hearing next Wednesday and has asked all the applications in the matter to be forwarded to advocate Rajiv Jain, assisting the court as amicus curiae. The bench has made it clear that builders who have cheated homebuyers will not be allowed to decide who should run the project. The court has also ordered a moratorium on insolvency proceedings and granted immunity to the empowered committee headed by justice (retd) MM Kumar against numerous litigations pending against Supertech and its subsidiaries. The bench has expressed its concern over the role of interim resolution professionals and has directed the amicus curiae to share his report with the CBI.