A Supreme Court-backed review process has revived the housing claims of 1,754 members of the Central Government Employees Cooperative Housing Society in Noida, more than three decades after their proposed plot allotments were cancelled. A committee headed by retired High Court judge Sudhir Kumar Saxena has begun examining members’ records at the Noida Authority’s Sector 6 office.
The members have been asked to submit details by 18 November on the money they deposited around 32 years ago. The documents include proof of the 40 per cent allotment amount, records of three instalments, Aadhaar cards, address proof and receipts issued when they joined the cooperative society.
The committee is expected to submit its investigation report before the next hearing scheduled for 2 December. The process follows an order of the Supreme Court under which the retired judge-led committee was constituted to examine the claims and the history of the allotment dispute.
The Noida Authority had allotted land in Sectors 42 and 43 to the society in 1994. The proposal covered plots ranging from 70 square metres to 450 square metres for 2,149 members. Of these, 1,754 members reportedly paid 40 per cent of the allotment amount along with the remaining three instalments.
The allotment was cancelled in 1996 after some members complained to the authority that the society included ineligible or allegedly fictitious members who had been allotted plots. The Noida Authority conducted an inquiry and found irregularities in the allotment process. The cancellation triggered a prolonged legal dispute, with the society winning cases first in the district court and later in the High Court.
The authority subsequently approached the Supreme Court in 2014. The dispute continued after the death of society secretary Chandra Prakash Diwالي in 2017, after which Kulveer Kapoor became the head of the society, according to the report.
In 2022, the society and the Noida Authority reportedly reached an understanding under which members would accept flats instead of plots. Based on rates at the time, an 1,800-square-foot flat was proposed for each member. The arrangement was placed before the Supreme Court, but members opposed the proposal, keeping the question of their entitlement unresolved.
The current review is therefore focused on establishing which members made the original payments and whether their records support their claims. The exercise also brings the authority’s earlier decisions, the society’s membership records and the proposed shift from individual plots to flats into the same verification process.
The authority had earlier returned the deposited money through cheques after cancelling the plot allotments. Around 100 members reportedly encashed those cheques but later redeposited the money. The committee may consider giving such members another opportunity, according to the report.
The immediate milestones are the 18 November deadline for document submission and the committee’s report before the 2 December hearing. Any decision on plots, flats or eligibility will depend on the committee’s findings and the subsequent court process.
