More than 15 years after investors in the upscale Grand Venice project in Greater Noida were promised delivery of office spaces, stores and a hotel, a study commissioned by the Supreme Court has found the project unfit for occupation on several counts—no basic facilities of staircase, lift, air conditioning, rest rooms and statutory clearances.
To be sure, a mall on the ground floor at Plot No. SH3, Surajpur Site 4, Greater Noida, is currently operational, but the rest of the structures remain unfinished. It is estimated that around ₹1,000 crore of investors’ money is stuck in the project.
The Supreme Court report of an independent two-member committee, headed by its former judge Deepak Gupta, along with senior advocate Rekha Palli as a member, revealed large-scale negligence on the conduct of the project developer, Bhasin Infotech and Infrastructure Private Limited (BIIPL). The report noted that the developer collected a premium price, ₹6,500 to ₹10,000 per square foot, in 2010.
Almost 75% of the allottees claimed to have paid 90% of the total consideration as a down payment. However, with the units still undelivered, many investors registered criminal cases against BIIPL and its promoter, Satinder Singh Bhasin.
The two-member committee roped in the technical expertise of Anant Kumar, former special director general, Central Public Works Department and former PWD engineer-in-chief, who prepared a preliminary report based on subsequent visits to the site in question.
In conclusion, Kumar told the committee, “The preliminary inspection clearly indicates that the project, in its present state, does not meet the requirements for completion, statutory compliances.”
He found material deviations at the site as against the sanctioned plans and completion plans, with a substantial quantum of work still pending. Kumar’s submission to the committee showed that the fire clearances obtained on July 25, 2025, were valid till a height of 57.15 metres, corresponding to the eighth floor in a project having 15 floors. While the 15th floor is yet to be constructed, there are no partition walls from the 9th to 14th floors, due to which individual units are not identifiable.
Two service floors, as shown in the sanctioned plan, do not exist. None of the lifts, elevators in commercial office blocks are functional and essential services such as staircases, transformers, DG sets, air-conditioning chillers, air washers, and rest rooms are incomplete, the report said.
“In its present condition, the complex cannot be considered complete or functional. Quality-related issues are also visible as flooring, gates, ceiling work, lighting, plasters are not done from 8th floor to 14th floor…It requires significant rectification and completion before it can be considered fit to, for handing over to allottees for occupation,” Kumar said in his report to the two-member committee, requiring time till January 23 for submitting a detailed report.
The independent committee placed these details before a bench of justices Sannjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh early this month in a sealed cover. The bench, on January 13, made the report public and directed the same to be uploaded to the Supreme Court website for eliciting responses from all stakeholders, including the project developer, allottees and Uttar Pradesh state authorities.
The court was approached by Bhasin in 2019 to consolidate multiple FIRs against him. In November 2019, he was granted interim bail on the condition that he will endeavour to settle the disputes raised by allottees. The matter was closed in August 2023 with a direction that if Bhasin reneged on the undertaking given, allottees will be at liberty to seek cancellation of bail. From late 2023, multiple applications by allottees, following which the court passed an order constituting the committee on November 20, 2025.
The report by the committee is the latest in a series of cases being examined by the top court to provide succour to thousands of homebuyers in Delhi-NCR who have bought homes that have been delayed for years and decades, in some instances.
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant took a bold step in this direction, ordering a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the nexus between builders and banks in the alleged subvention scheme scam across several housing projects.
The court recently came to the rescue of homebuyers in Supertech’s Supernova project in Noida by constituting a committee headed by a former high court judge to ensure completion of the housing units without allowing the project to go into insolvency. There too, the saga of unfinished projects and unfulfilled promises by the project proponent drove desperate homebuyers to seek protection of their right to shelter from the top court.
Similar initiatives are being taken by the court while monitoring smooth completion of the Amrapali, Unitech and Jaypee construction projects, where real estate developers siphoned away homebuyers’ money and breached their trust of getting timely possession of their homes.
Bhasin, who is the director of BIIPL and the Grand Venezia Commercial Towers Private Limited, had approached the allottees claiming to have completion certificate from UP State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA), which allottees found to be a farce, as only partial completion certificate was obtained. Bhasin promised on-paper possession on the strength of this document.
To verify these and more such claims by allottees, the court appointed the independent committee to ascertain the current status of the project, examine grievances of allottees and ascertain the time by which housing units could be handed over to the homebuyers. As some of these aspects will be addressed by the committee in its final report, the bench has posted the matter for January 27.