NOIDA: Be it a son who lost both his parents and is still waiting for his flat to be delivered or a daughter who is living with ‘deep pain in her heart’ as she could not fulfil her late mothers wish to live together in their own home—thousands of Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL) home buyers in Noida, who are the victims of the mother of all real estate frauds in India, are anxiously waiting for their flats even after more than 12 years.

Stuck in long-drawn legal battles (the home buyers’ case is now being heard in the National Company Law Tribunal, or NCLT), the decade-old plight is lingering that left more than 20,000 Jaypee home seekers running from pillar to post, and finally giving up. In August 2017, the NCLT kicked off insolvency proceedings against the Noida-based realty major. Five years down the line, the goal to settle the Rs 22,600 crore debt resolution—that had an initial deadline of six months under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016—is yet to be realised.

Currently, there are 18,767 active home buyers who have paid a collective principal amount of Rs 8,676 crore. Nearly 413 home buyers have cancelled their bookings and their refund worth Rs 64 crore is still pending. About 1,410 buyers have been issued offers of possession valued at Rs 528 crore, but no registration has taken place for those properties to date. A pall of gloom has enveloped the home buyers as the NCLT is yet to finalise the revival plan and hearings are still on. Jayashree Swaminathan, a home buyer who saw the entire drama unfold in front of her eyes, feels they may have to wait for another two-three years to get possession of their flats. “I could not fulfill the wish of my parents, especially my mother, of living together in our own abode. I am still living on rent in Delhi. The whole objective of buying this property is lost for which we paid through our noses. We are extremely, extremely tired of the legal battle,” Swaminathan told IANS. There are some frustrated Jaypee buyers who have stopped paying the EMIs and are just not bothered about the ramifications it will have on their credit history as they just cannot afford to pay both the rent and the EMI.