On August 28, the infamous Noida Twin Towers, built by real estate company Supertech Limited will be razed in a matter of nine seconds following a Supreme Court order.
The apex court has termed the construction as illegal and in serious violation of the UP Apartments Act 2010 while directing the Noida authority and Supertech to demolish the structure at its own cost which is estimated to be Rs 20 crore.
Situated at the Noida Sector 93A, the Twin Towers T-16 and T-17 also known as Apex and Ceyane, are touted to be India’s tallest structures— even taller than the historic monument Qutub Minar. Apex (32 storeys) and Ceyane (29 storeys), have more than 900 flats accommodating 1500 residents, and covering an area of 7.5 lakh square feet.
The 40-storey twin towers are installed with 3,700 kg of explosives on each floor. The 5,000 residents of the two adjoining societies—Emerald Court and ATS Village have been asked to evacuate the area by 7 am on August 28, as the societies are barely nine
meters away from the house.
In order to reduce pollution, the Pollution Control Board has also installed 10 anti-smog guns. The traffic will be diverted and no vehicular movement will take place from Noida to Greater Noida/Yamuna Expressway during the demolition hours.
Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering in partnership with South African firm Jet Demolitions has taken the responsibility for the demolition.
The demolition will take place in the presence of Noida Authority and Noida police. Meanwhile, the Noida Health Department has also been roped in case of any possible health emergency.
In November 2004, Supertech Limited was sanctioned to build a housing society in Sector 93A in Noida under New Okhla Industrial Development Area Building Regulations and Directions. In the initial plan, the realtor promised the residents the construction of 14 towers, and a garden space near T-1.
Later in 2006, Supertech Limited revised its plan. In its second plan, the realty firm leased out an additional area to construct towers T-16 and T-17, with 24-40 floors that could accommodate 650 residents.
However, in 2012, the floor plan for twin towers was again revised in order to accommodate 1500 residents, without the consent of the previous buyers.
The UP Ownership of flats Act, 1975, and UP Apartment Acts 2010, make it mandatory for real estate companies to take the consent of existing residents or previous buyers for new constructions.
The Resident Welfare Association (RWA) says that the twin towers were built in violation of fire safety norms, and open space norms.
As per the real estate rules and regulations, the distance between two adjacent buildings should be kept at 16m, and any structure with a height of 18m, must have a distance of 16m from its neighboring structures.
This gap is crucial for fire safety. However, the distance between T-16 and T-17, with a height of more than 18m respectively, was kept only at 9m, thus violating the fire safety norms. Moreover, the gap between T-1 and T-17 was also kept at only 9m as the garden space area near T-1 was utilized for the construction of the twin towers.
Despite the serious violation of safety norms, the twin towers received a no objection certificate (NOC) for the construction of twin towers from the Noida Authority.
In 2012, the Resident Welfare Association filed a petition in Allahabad High Court, citing that the construction of the twin towers was illegal. Taking cognizance of the petition, in 2014 the Allahabad High Court, directed the authority to demolish the twin tower at its own expense within four months. The high court also directed Supertech Limited to pay a refund to the homebuyers with an interest rate of 14 per cent.
However, Supertech reached the Supreme Court seeking a stay of the Allahabad High Court order. Though the apex court stayed Allahabad High Court’s order, it directed Supertech Limited to repay the interest rate to the homebuyers. However, the realtor did not fulfill the promise. As a result, several buyers approached the apex court once again, filing petitions individually. The Supreme Court later appointed an amicus curiae.
The twin tower construction again resumed in 2014. In 2018, the Supreme Court, gave two options--to either exit the project with a full repayment of principal amount and an interest rate of 14 per cent or get a return on investment of 10 per cent per annum if they chose to stay in the project. The court directed Supertech to do the needful, but the realtor is yet to fulfill the court's order.
In August last year, the Supreme Court ordered the demolition of the twin towers, citing the construction to be illegal. The court also ordered the realtor to repay the homebuyers at an interest rate of 12 per cent. Meanwhile, as Supertech filed for bankruptcy in December 2021, it has been unable to fulfill the court’s order and repay the homebuyers
