After the demolition of the Holy Faith H20 building in Kochi in January last year, revenue officials are now gearing up to auction off assets of the builder to compensate customers. The Supreme Court directed officials to go ahead with the auction as the builder has failed to remit money owned to individuals who had purchased property in the now demolished building. This decision comes in lieu of a 13 year long tussle initiated in 2006 by the Maradu Panchayat who issued show cause notices to Holy Faith Builders and three other developers for constructing buildings along the banks of the Vembanad lake, which was in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone rules of the area.
Following the demolition of Holy Faith H20 in January 2020 due to rampant CRZ violations, revenue officials in Kochi are gearing up to auction off assets of the aforementioned to provide adequate compensation to disgruntled customers. This came after a 13 year long tussle initiated in 2006 wherein the Maradu panchayat at the time had issued show cause notices to Holy Faith Builders and three other developers as their buildings had been constructed on the banks of the Vembanad lake, in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone rules.
Revenue officials in Ernakulam will auction off the properties of Holy Faith Builders and Developers Pvt Ltd, one of four builders whose high-rise building was demolished in January 2020 due to CRZ violations. The auction is based on a Supreme Court order because the builder failed to remit the amount owed to Holy Faith H20 apartment owners, with a committee formed to oversee compensation distribution. On January 11, 2020, Holy Faith H20 was the first building to be demolished. The auction will take place on January 20 of this year to raise Rs 42 crore. The cost of the building was determined by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice K Balakrishnan Nair committee at Rs 42.14 crore. Rs 25 lakh was set aside for interim compensation for individual house buyers.
In 2006, the Maradu panchayat issued show cause notices to five builders including H20 Holy Faith, Alfa Serene, Golden Kayaloram and Jain Coral Cove for violating the Coastal Regulation Zone norms, Floor Area Ratio and other building rules. While one builder chose not to construct the apartment after the notice, others moved to the Kerala High Court challenging the stay order. The single judge allowed the writ petition filed by the builders. The Maradu panchayat went on to appeal to the Division Bench stating that the builders could not be taken to task. The Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority approached the Division Bench with the review petition; this too was rejected. Continuing its effort, the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority moved a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court, SC, against the Kerala High Court order. In May of 2019, the Supreme court ordered the demolition of the buildings for violations of the provisions of the CRZ. Review petitions filed by the residents were also rejected by the Supreme Court. The apex court ordered Rs 25 lakh compensation for all the apartment owners as interim compensation. The court also ordered that the bank accounts of the builders to be frozen. The Crime Branch of the Kerala police booked cases against the builders and arrested the directors of the company who were later released on bail.
Holy Faith Builders and Developers was founded in the year 1996 and has its headquarters in Kochi, Kerala. It is a private company which was incorporated with the MCA in 2005. As per MCA records the company is involved in the activity of general construction of buildings including alteration, addition, repair, and maintenance, done on an own account basis or on a few or contract basis. The company is headed by Mr Sany Francis who has been under judicial scrutiny multiple times for alleged malpractice and financial fraud.
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