The Supreme Court expressed unease on Friday over the escalating volume of real-estate disputes, particularly those involving homebuyers in Delhi-NCR and redevelopment projects in Mumbai, observing that the trend is tarnishing the reputation of builders and the industry as a whole.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and P B Varale, hearing a dispute related to the redevelopment of a Mumbai housing society, pointed to the severity of the problem in the country’s two largest real-estate hubs.
According to the bench, the scope of litigation in the sector is so widespread in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai that it stands out in comparison with other states. The court added that such concerns do not typically arise elsewhere.
“This problem of real estate is very severe in these two places. In Delhi-NCR, there are lakhs and lakhs of homebuyers who are affected by housing projects. In Mumbai, it is the case with the re-development projects. Nowhere this happens. In Gujarat, you will not find a single case where there are disputes with regard to real-estate projects. This affects the reputation of real-estate developers,” Justice Pardiwala remarked while addressing counsel representing the builders.
The bench urged lawyers appearing for developers to reflect on the reasons behind the mounting grievances and litigation.
The Supreme Court is presently dealing with multiple major disputes involving prominent real-estate companies such as Unitech, the Amrapali Group, Jaypee Group, and Supertech, where tens of thousands of buyers continue to pursue delayed and stalled housing projects, many extending over a decade.
The observation from the bench adds another judicial nudge to a sector already wrestling with regulatory changes, compliance failures, insolvency proceedings, and the continuing trust deficit between developers and homebuyers.
