New Delhi The Supreme Court on Friday granted two weeks time to the Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited, which owned the mishap-hit Uphaar Cinema, to file a reply on allegations that it had "fraudulently" mortgaged the theatre's properties.
A Bench of Justices B N Agrawal and P P Naolekar also granted two weeks time to the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy to file its rejoinder on the reply and posted it for further hearing.
The Bench passed the directions on an application moved by the Association, which sought initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against the firm and an inquiry by an independent agency like the CBI to probe the alleged massive fraud.
In the application it was alleged that instead of raising an amount of Rs 3.4 crore for partly settling the compensation claims of the victims' families, the Ansals had raised a whopping Rs 130 crore through fraudulent means for consolidating their own real estate business in and around the Capital.
On October 11, 2004, the apex court had permitted Ansal Properties to mortgage the theatre's properties to raise money for paying compensation to the families of the 59 people who perished in the fire tragedy here on June 13, 1997.
The apex Court order was specific that the property should be mortgaged only for the purpose of raising money for the compensation amount and that the owners, "shall not create any other encumbrance of any other third party interest in the cinema building".
However, the Association alleged that the Ansals had on December 29, 2003, mortgaged its properties to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) for Rs 88 crore, a fact that was concealed from the apex court, which on October 10, 2004 restrained the management from creating any third party interest in the property.
(With agency inputs)
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