Two Ghaziabad Towers Must Be Demolished as Illegal, Rules Allahabad High Court

Two Ghaziabad Towers Must Be Demolished as Illegal, Rules Allahabad High Court in Suresh Chander v. State of U.P.

Case: Suresh Chander and 10 Others v. State of U.P. and 2 Others
Date of Judgment: 27 October 2026
Court: Allahabad High Court
Coram: Justice Saral Srivastava and Justice Sudhanshu Chauhan

Court Observation

“In such a pitiable situation, we cannot expect the apartment owners — who have invested their hard-earned money and on many occasions have managed the funds from finance companies, financial institutions or banks with a liability — to pay EMIs on getting the loan sanctioned, which begins immediately after loan amount is paid to the promoter.”

Summary

The Allahabad High Court has ordered the demolition of two towers at the Gulmohar Greens residential society in Ghaziabad, holding that they were built illegally and could not be regularised. In a nearly 95-page judgment, the Court also ordered the removal of the unauthorised ninth and tenth floors of four other towers in the society.

The Court found that the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) had colluded with the promoter in perpetuating the illegalities, including allowing flats to be sold and occupied without a completion certificate, and set aside the GDA’s third compounding order dated 18 December 2024. It directed registration of a First Information Report against the promoter for fraud, misrepresentation and statutory violations, imposed costs of Rs 25 lakh on the promoter, and directed the GDA to pay Rs 50,000 to each of the eleven apartment owners who had approached the Court.

Key Holdings

  • The additional constructions at Gulmohar Greens were not compoundable, and the third compounding order regularising them could not stand.
  • Sanctioning a compounding order despite knowledge of the promoter’s violations amounted to dereliction of duty by the GDA Vice-Chairman.
  • Under the Uttar Pradesh Apartment Act, 2010, the responsibility to obtain a completion certificate lies with the promoter, and flats could not lawfully be sold and occupied without one.

Directions Issued

  • Towers 27 and 28, and the ninth and tenth floors of Towers 16, 17, 18 and 19, must be demolished within two months, with the Ghaziabad administration and police providing security and assistance to the GDA.
  • An FIR must be registered against the promoter within two weeks of the judgment for fraud, misrepresentation and violations of the 2010 Act.
  • The promoter must deposit Rs 25 lakh as costs in the account of the Gulmohar Greens Residents Welfare Association within one month, and the cost of demolition must be recovered from the promoter as arrears of land revenue.
  • The GDA must pay Rs 50,000 to each of the eleven petitioners within two months.
  • The State government must initiate a disciplinary inquiry within one month against the then Vice-Chairman of the GDA who approved the third compounding map dated 18 December 2024.
  • The promoter must return the sale price of the common areas sold by him to 85 persons.

Background

The layout for the society at Katori Mill, Mohan Nagar, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, was sanctioned on 29 May 2006 for 34 towers comprising 904 dwelling units. After officers of the Hindon Air Force Station objected to the promoter’s title over several plots, the layout approval was cancelled on 3 July 2010, by which time 720 units had already been constructed. The Authority subsequently compounded the layout three times, in November 2011, January 2015 and December 2024, with the third compounding order regularising the ninth and tenth floors of Towers 16, 17, 18 and 19 and permitting two additional towers. Eleven apartment owners challenged the third compounding order, and their petition was heard along with a 2015 writ petition filed by the society’s Residents Welfare Association. The project, which began in 2005, remains incomplete more than twenty years later, and the promoter has still not obtained a completion certificate.

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Disclaimer: This is a summary prepared for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should refer to the official judgment for the authoritative text.

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