KOCHI: Despite a favourable order from the Kerala High Court, there is no end to the woes of 66 buyers of the stalled Dewa Pier-20 luxury apartment project at Marine Drive in Kochi.
In its order on March 25, a single bench, of Justice N Nagesh, had asked the Union Bank of India -- which headed the 13-bank consortium that sanctioned the loan for the apartment project -- to pay the home buyers coming under the Dewa Investors’ Association Rs 24.76 crore within a month. However, even after nearly four months, the buyers are yet to receive any money.
“This is a clear case of violation of the court order. One the one hand, Union Bank of India sold the property without taking the consent of the home buyers. Second, they are not obeying the court order,” said Dewa Investors’ Association president Prince Joseph.
The plight of the apartment buyers goes back to 2005-06 when the Dewa Project, promoted by Kuwait-based entrepreneur K Venugopalan Nair, raised money from buyers to construct a seven-tower project overlooking the backwaters at Marine Drive on 6.32 acres. The project fell into trouble after Nair defaulted on the loan, forcing the bank consortium to go for liquidation procedures.
The consortium led by Union Bank of India had earlier auctioned two plots belonging to Dewa Projects -- 4.8 acres to Yusuffali M A of the Lulu Group for Rs 123.77 crore and another 11.9 acres to Puravankara Projects for Rs 203 crore. But the last parcel of land -- 6.32 acres -- was embroiled in a legal battle as it involved the stakes of home buyers.
Now, that parcel of land has been sold for Rs 150.1 crore but the home buyers have been ignored by the bank. “The banks received much more than their initial loan amount,” said Jacob Xavier Kayalakakath, secretary of Dewa Investors’ Association. The banks initially sanctioned Rs 265.35 crore, in August 2005, which was later enhanced to Rs 477 crore.
Earlier, the Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) had pulled up the Union Bank of India for its decision to auction the stalled project without giving any consideration to the home buyers.
Prince said the buyers would not have fallen for the project had the banks cautioned them. “The bank consortium declared the loan account as NPA (non-performing asset) in the year 2007. Had the Reserve Bank of India or the members of the consortium banks published the details of the default, the home buyers, who made payments from 2012, wouldn’t have made any such payments,” he said.
Despite efforts, Union Bank of India officials could not be reached for comments.