New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed estate major Supertech to deposit Rs five crore in its Registry as a part of refund to homebuyers for the project in which Allahabad High Court had ordered demolition of twin towers of Emerald Court in Noida, adjacent to the national capital.

The apex court said that the amount has to be deposited by July 25 and posted its appeal for hearing on July 27.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R F Nariman said the appeal would be heard only after the amount is deposited. The Allahabad High Court had on April 11, 2014 ordered demolition of the two 40-storey residential twin towers — Apex and Ceyane — in Noida while directing Supertech to refund money to homebuyers with 14 per cent interest in three months. The two towers have 857 apartments in total. Of these, about 600 flats have already been sold. The apex court had on February 16 last year directed Supertech to refund money to the flat owners, saying, “Developers can’t take investors for a ride.” Earlier, it had directed Supertech to give back money to flat owners who had sought refund of their investments, after the towers were directed to be demolished by the Allahabad High Court. Holding that flat owners cannot be forced to remain in limbo and wait indefinitely due to litigation, the bench had also directed the company to pay compound interest at the rate of 14 per cent per annum to allottees by end of October 2014. It had turned down the plea of Supertech which had contended that it was not in a position to pay back the money as the interest part has grown more than the principal. The price of the flats, located in the outskirts of Delhi, ranged from Rs 65-90 lakhs. — PTI