‘No money left, banks after us’: 1,300 Gurgaon Greenopolis buyers stuck in 11-year legal maze - The Indian Express

From the outside, Greenopolis in Gurgaon’s Sector 89 looks like a finished, upscale housing complex. A grand white archway with the project’s name in bold green letters opens onto paved roads, trimmed hedges, and a roundabout with a fountain.

A cluster of beige buildings sits beyond it, their balconies fitted with glass railings and air-conditioner units, with the occasional line of laundry drying in the sun.

But a few metres past these finished homes, the picture changes.

Behind a long, unplastered red-brick boundary wall, much of the complex is a ghost town of raw grey concrete. Windowless towers stand frozen mid-construction, their unfinished frames looming beside the occupied blocks.

For around 1,300 homebuyers caught in disputes involving the project’s two developers — Three C Shelters and Orris Infrastructure — those towers are a reminder of everything that has been put on hold.

This week, two court orders brought some movement in the case: the Delhi High Court set up a monitoring committee to verify homebuyers’ claims, while the Supreme Court restored the insolvency proceedings against Three C.

But the 11-year wait has meant paying for a home they cannot live in, while making other arrangements for their families and futures.

Vinay Bhasin, 56, a former factory automation professional, wanted a home of his own in Gurgaon and was drawn to the location and layout shown to buyers. Possession was promised in 2014, with a one-year grace period.

Eleven years later, he is still waiting.

“I’m living in a small apartment for the time being,” he said.

Vinay has also been without a job for almost two years. His child is autistic and currently at an intervention centre, while his monthly expenditure has crossed Rs 70,000.

“I was earning a decent salary and if the job would have continued, at least my daily expenses would have been covered, including the additional expenses for the hostel for my son, who needs to be taken care of for life,” he said.

The flat had been financed through a private bank loan. Vinay said the interest rate kept increasing every few months, pushing up the loan tenure. He eventually borrowed from multiple friends and closed the loan in 2020-21.

His savings are now running out. “Life has become so difficult… I had to break my Provident Fund (PF) as well,” he said.

“We’ve grown tired of fighting legal cases. No one is listening to us. How long can someone without a job sustain this?” he asked.

Greenopolis was launched in 2012 on 47 acres, with Three C Shelters and Orris Infrastructure agreeing to split the allotments 65:35. Buyers booked their flats in 2012-13, with possession promised by 2016.

According to the Delhi High Court order, Three C collected Rs 776.60 crore from its buyers and Orris about Rs 383.06 crore from its own. Buyers said they had paid 80-90% of the price when construction came to a halt in early 2016.

Of the 1,862 units planned, only about 1,650 were allotted — 1,091 by Three C and 559 by Orris — divided across three phases. Phase 1, comprising 512 flats across seven towers, was completed and its flats went to some Orris buyers and purchasers in the open market.

Phase 2 with 766 flats across 11 towers and Phase 3 with 584 flats across 10 towers remain unfinished.

The delay exposed buyers, like Dipika Mohil, to a second layer of creditors — banks awaiting payments.

The 57-year-old had bought her flat in 2013 and took a home loan. “I paid interest from 2015 till 2024 but I had to default as I had no money to pay the EMIs,” she said.

Dipika requested a two-year moratorium with an option for a one-time settlement. Instead, she said, she received legal notices. “Now I have to fight banks. They have my original papers – they did due diligence – then why are they not supporting home buyers?”

She said she had bought the flat, hoping it would provide financial security after retirement. She is now six months away from retirement, still living on rent. “My entire life savings, accumulated over 30 years of hard work, have gone into this,” she said.

For Chitranjan Gupta, 72, a retired banker, the flat was meant to be an investment for his daughter.

He bought a four-bedroom apartment in 2012, planning to sell it at a profit after delivery. “However, when I retired in March 2014, I started feeling the pinch of the installments,” he said.

When he realised possession would be delayed, he asked the builder to change his apartment to a smaller one, which it did.

But the delay had already begun affecting his plans. “The delay in possession has adversely affected my plans for my daughter’s higher education,” he said.

Chitranjan moved to a smaller apartment in 2016. More than a decade later, he is still waiting for the dispute over the project to be resolved.

“After over 10 years, can we be asked to wait indefinitely? We’re suffering. Many of us are senior citizens, middle-class people who invested their entire life savings. We have no homes, almost no money left and banks are after us,” he said.

Sushma, 50, booked her apartment in 2016.

“When we purchased our home, the project was running in full swing, and we trusted the reputed names associated with it, including 3C in Noida and Orris in Gurgaon. We took a bank loan, believing we were securing a safe and stable future for our family,” she said.

The financial pressure forced the family to sell jewellery.

“Selling our jewellery was one of the most painful decisions we have ever had to make. These were not just ornaments. They represented years of savings, memories and security. We had to give them up simply to keep meeting our financial obligations,” she said.

“For years, we have lived with the anxiety of not knowing when the matter would finally be resolved. The uncertainty has affected our family life, our ability to plan for the future and our emotional well-being.”

On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court constituted a three-member monitoring committee headed by former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna. This committee will verify genuine buyers, whether they paid Three C or Orris, and will try to finish this task in eight months.

Justice Anup Bhambhani outlined that the Monitoring Committee “shall formulate an expeditious and transparent procedure to verify genuine homebuyers and the quantum of payments made by them, cross-referencing the material provided by the Directorate of Enforcement and the homebuyers”.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court set aside a 2023 order by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) terminating insolvency proceedings against Three C.

Homebuyers had appealed against shutting down the insolvency process, arguing that ending it at such a late stage left them with no structured way to recover their money.

The top court restored the proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), directing it to reconsider the matter after hearing the Resolution Professional, the Committee of Creditors and other stakeholders, including the homebuyers. If the insolvency process continues, the NCLT was directed to proceed expeditiously.

But for buyers, the latest legal developments bring another round of uncertainty.

“We have paid for our homes so we want them. Does nobody understand this? Can we be made to wait indefinitely?… At times, it feels as though we have been failed by the very justice system meant to protect us,” Sushma said.

Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023. Professional Background Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University. Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories. Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts. Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials. Recent notable articles In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories. 1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.  2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation. 3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police. Signature Style Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public. X (Twitter): @Nirbhaya99 ... Read More