In a nation where every system is getting weakened and manipulated, the political leadership is found wanting and the scenario of corruption is steadily worsening, the question is, who will bell the cat. Belief was that India also had a system of checks and balances. Courts, for one, to dispense with justice. Yet, cases in this country drag on for years on end and law has several loopholes for the high and mighty to exploit these to their advantage. In this backdrop, a silver lining is the ruling of the Supreme Court this week to back an Allahabad high court order to demolish the twin 40-floor residential towers in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, close to the national capital and a beehive of economic activities. The Supreme Court had, a year ago, issued a similar order to demolish a string of skyscrapers in Kochi, Kerala, and the order was forcibly implemented. With the apex court taking a strong view, the local political establishment could not interfere. In the Noida case now, the apex court has given two months’ time for the real estate company to pay back the money to those who have booked around 900 flats, and three months’ time to the builder to demolish the two towers. In both Nodia and Kochi, the court found serious violations of the environment and other rules. As for Noida, there was failure to maintain the distance between the two towers, besides other rule violations including the lack of open space required to be left free around the towers for gardening etc.
The Noida case dragged on for years. The Allahabad high court passed the order in 2014. The case took seven years at the apex court for the final ruling. It is likely the real estate firm will still try to find escape routes. Those who paid money to book the flats deserve sympathy. Their money got blocked for many years and hope is that they will get their money back. These firms obtain clearances by greasing the palms of bureaucrats and politicians and use these to woo investors. This apart, what works is the trust factor. When a firm comes up with offers, it is impossible to foresee what glitches lay ahead. The good side of such demolitions is that this will send the right signals to developers and others in the real estate sector that, if they do not play by the rules it will result in disaster. Such verdicts could cleanse the system of its ills.
