Residents of Mumbai’s World Crest Towers drag developer Lodha Group to bankruptcy court

Residents of Mumbai-based World Crest World Towers, India’s tallest residential complex, have initiated bankruptcy proceedings against Macrotech Developers (erstwhile Lodha Group), which is among the country’s largest real-estate companies.

The World Crest society has, in its filing to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), said that Macrotech has failed to clear its dues of ₹7.2 crore with regard to a sinking fund and other heads since 2019. The society, which counts several corporate honchos and top personalities as members, is demanding the dues from the developer with interest.

Its petition says that Macrotech has not carried out the construction of the building properly. Due to these defects, the substandard quality of elevators, poor quality of marbles in the flats and the lobby, as also the substandard materials used in the flats, Macrotech had agreed to create a sinking fund of ₹7.2 crore instead of paying individual flat owners. The filing further says that Macrotech had agreed to pay the amount in April 2019 and confirmed the same via an email in September 2020.

“These monies were due and payable at the time of handover of the society by the developer in April 2019, since then we have been having constant follow up. Lodha has avoided paying this on some pretext or other. Having exhausted all other methods of recovery of the money, we have been pushed to the wall and filed this bankruptcy petition,” said Anil Singhvi, Secretary of the World Crest Towers society and a former MD of Ambuja Cements.

No dues, says Macrotech

Macrotech says there are no dues pending from its side. In a statement to
BusinessLine , it said: “The property tax amount (as adjusted against any other outstandings) has been duly paid to the authorities as per the due date which was March 31, 2021 and the legal notice was sent prior to this. Members of the World Crest society owe us over ₹9 crore towards maintenance of the common facilities outside the building. Against this, the amount of ₹7.2 crore which we had agreed to pay them has been offset. We will reply to their notice as per legal advice. This claim is without any merit and we will suitably address it before the competent authority,” it said.