The Supreme Court's bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Vikram Nath ordered on Tuesday that the properties of two of the builders, Alfa Ventures Private Limited and K.P. Varkey and V.S. Builders, be 'de-attached' and their bank accounts unfrozen. The Bench ordered the applicant builders to provide security in the amount of Rs 25 crores and Rs 10 crores, respectively, in order to reclaim control of their properties and bank accounts. The security must be provided to the satisfaction of the committee overseeing the compensation claims, which is led by former Kerala High Court judge Justice K Balakrishnan Nair.

The bench also stated that the issue of liability apportionment will be addressed at the next hearing. Apart from the builders, the report submitted by former judge Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan, who was appointed by the Court to investigate the violations, held the Kerala Government and the Maradu municipality authorities liable for the illegal constructions.

Senior Advocate V. Giri argued vehemently on behalf of Alfa Ventures that the attachment order be lifted in order to bring them back from the brink of bankruptcy and allow them to disburse the interest payable to the homebuyers above the principal amount owed to them. He stated that the issues of liability apportionment and compensation quantum required detailed adjudication and were "fairly time-consuming." The senior counsel told the Bench that at that point, the court only needed to consider whether the properties and bank accounts could be de-attached in exchange for security. "For the last three years, we have been suffering. Not only are our properties attached, the other businesses of the partners and their bank accounts are attached. How can we do business? We cannot move an inch," Giri exclaimed.

For the Kerala government, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta and standing counsel Nishe Rajan Shonker appeared. Giri, Basant, and Advocates Harris Biran, K. Rajeev, and A. Karthik represented the various flat builders. Senior Advocates V. Chidambaresh and Meenakshi Arora appeared on their clients' behalf.

Four luxury waterfront apartments in Kochi near the Vembanad backwaters vanished from the skyline in 2020 after they were destroyed for breaching environmental norms, according to a 2019 order of the Supreme Court, which found the buildings to have been built in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification. Despite the fact that the fates of the four high-rises, H20 Holy Faith, Alfa Serene, Jain Coral Cove, and Golden Kayaloram, were sealed after 2019, homebuyers have been running from pillar to post seeking compensation for their homes' demolition.

Case Title: The Kerala State Coastal Zone Management Authority v. Maradu Municipality & Ors.
Citation: MA 1808-1809/2019 in CA No. 4784-4785/2019, CA No. 4786-4789/2019 and CA No. 4790-4793/2019