New Delhi: DLF, the country’s biggest real estate entity, has put on hold the delivery of its DLF Riverside luxury project in Kochi, after the Kerala govt cancelled its CRZ (coastal regulation zone) clearance, for alleged breaches.
DLF did not officially comment. Sources close to the development said the company was to give possession to the buyers in a few weeks but this would now be late by a few months, as the company would have to re-apply for CRZ clearance.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy & state environment minister T Radhakrishnan told the legislative assembly on Wednesday the earlier clearance order from the environment department last April had been quashed. The chief secretary is to look into all aspects & file a report within 5 days.
CM SPEAKS
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy & Minister for Environment Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan have said the clearance purchase given by the environment department in last April had been quashed & the chief secretary has been asked to look into all aspects & file a report within 5 days
Chandy has also said the government would take a stern action on the matter after obtaining the chief secretary’s report, but reminded the LDF that the proposal for the project came to the government in 2007 & was given 1st clearance a year later when it was in power
Earlier, the opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala slammed the Congress-led United Democratic Front regime of showing “undue favour” in regularization of the DLF project. Increasing the issue, Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led LDF member’s alleged corruption & political favoritisms in giving “hasty clearance” to the project. They sought to link this to Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
C Divakaran, CPI leader in the House, sought to know why the govt turned nervous when Vadra’s name was mentioned in connection with the project. This, he said, was an significant matter, one that had to be mentioned in the House.
In an apparent move to pre-empt the LDF charge, Radhakrishnan said the govt had, on Tuesday, decided to quash the clearance order & asked the chief secretary to inquire into the matter.
Chandy said the govt would take stern action on the matter, after the chief secretary’s report on this was out. The 5-acre project is placed at Vytilla, on the banks of the Chillavanor River. It boasts of luxury homes priced at Rs 1.5-4 cr. It was released in 2007. DLF has one other project in Kochi, called New Town, launched in 2009 & under construction.
The Vytilla project has 172 apartments, of which 70 % have been sold & the project is almost finished. DLF had been earlier penalized by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for misusing its dominant position in the market. Last month, the Competition Appellate Tribunal ignored a DLF plea towards the Rs 630-cr charge enforced by CCI 2 years earlier in a case similar to a Gurgaon housing complex. DLF had said the company would be challenging this in the Supreme Court.
CCI had enforced the penalty on DLF on a petition by flat buyer associations of 2 if its projects in Gurgaon, DLF Park Palace & the Belaire. The buyers had alleged delays in the project & improve in the number of floors over what had been earlier stated. CCI had also asked the company to modify the apartment buyer’s contract.
The company has been reeling under large debts and is on a divestment spree to decrease its debt. DLF reduced its net debt by Rs 2,500 cr to Rs 17,400 cr, following proceeds from sale of luxury hotel chain Amanresorts & a return from Delhi Development Authority (DDA) earlier this year.
At the end of the December quarter 2013-14, DLF’s net debt had increased to Rs 19,926 crore, from Rs 1, 9508 crore as on September 30. It also sold off NTC Mill land in Mumbai to Lodhas for about Rs 2727 crore.
DLF’s shares were down by 2.33% today and closed at Rs 207.60 at Bombay Stock Exchange.
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