Allahabad HC Orders Demolition of Two Towers at Gulmohar Greens, Ghaziabad

What the court ordered

Eleven apartment owners challenged the third compounding order for the layout. Their petition was heard together with a writ petition filed in 2015 by the society's residents' association. In a judgment of nearly 95 pages, the bench held that the additional construction at Gulmohar Greens could not be compounded, so the third compounding order could not stand.

The court directed the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to completely demolish Towers 27 and 28. It also ordered the removal of the unauthorised ninth and tenth floors of Towers 16, 17, 18 and 19. The demolition is to be completed within two months.

The court also directed the district administration and police to give GDA officials adequate security so that the demolition proceeds without obstruction.

Compounding history

The authority compounded the layout three times: in November 2011, January 2015 and December 2024. The third order regularised the ninth and tenth floors of Towers 16 to 19 and permitted two additional towers.

The court set aside the third order dated 18 December 2024. It found that the GDA had colluded with the promoter in perpetuating the violations, including allowing flats to be sold and occupied without a completion certificate. The bench said the project began in 2005 and was still incomplete two decades later.

The court declined to disturb the first and second compoundings, even while calling them illegal. Third parties now hold interests in those homes, and the petitioners had not challenged those two maps. The apartments built under the third compounding have not been sold, so the court ordered them demolished.

Officials and criminal case

The court held that sanctioning the third compounding order despite knowledge of the promoter's violations amounted to dereliction of duty by the GDA Vice-Chairman. The State government must start a disciplinary inquiry against the then Vice-Chairman, who approved the map dated 18 December 2024, within one month.

The court ordered the immediate suspension of investigating officer Surendra Singh, who had given the builder a clean chit in a 2018 FIR without conducting an investigation. It also directed registration of an FIR against the promoter within two weeks over allegations of fraud and violations of the Uttar Pradesh Apartment Act. An officer of the rank of Additional Commissioner of Police is to run the investigation.

The court reprimanded the GDA for the negligence of its officials, observing that residents had suffered because of it. It also took a strict view of the illegal sale of common areas and expressed strong displeasure at the absence of a Fire NOC and a completion certificate.

What it means for buyers

The builder is directed to refund the money paid by 85 buyers, with 10% interest. The GDA must pay Rs 50,000 in costs to each petitioner. The promoter must deposit Rs 25 lakh into the residents' welfare association account, and the court directed that the demolition costs be recovered from the promoter as arrears of land revenue.

Owners in the first and second compoundings are not covered by the demolition direction, because the court said third parties now have interests in those homes. Owners of units in the two demolished towers and the upper floors of the four other towers are directly affected.

Residents' accounts describe continuing problems. Former AOA president Suresh Chandra Singhal, who has lived in the society since 2010, said the builder still has not obtained a completion certificate. He wants the builder to finish pending work and hand over society assets to the existing AOA. A resident also said the society lacks fire and electrical safety NOCs; this is the resident's account, not a court finding. Petitioner Prateek Tiwari said the judgment would set a precedent for other high-rise societies in Delhi-NCR.

Timeline of what comes next

• Within two weeks: FIR against the promoter.
• Within one month: Rs 25 lakh deposit into the residents' welfare association account; start of the State disciplinary inquiry.
• Within two months: demolition of Towers 27 and 28 and the upper floors of Towers 16 to 19; Rs 50,000 costs to each of the eleven petitioners.

The two-month period runs from the date of the order, which the reports reviewed do not fix precisely. The order was reported on 28 October 2026.

Location context

Mohan Nagar is served by the Mohan Nagar metro station on the Red Line of the Delhi Metro, which opened on 8 March 2019. A link to the Vaishali Blue Line has been proposed for the future. The Ghaziabad RRTS station, commissioned on 20 October 2023, is in Patel Nagar rather than Mohan Nagar.