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Directorate of Enforcement vs. Greenopolis Welfare Confederation and Anr. and connected matters

Criminal Revision Petition · 2026:DHC:8463Decided 29 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
CRL.REV.P. 37/2026, CRL.REV.P. 87/2026CNR: DLHC010013512026
Justice A. J. Bhambhani

Background

This is a very large (98-page) judgment arising from the collapse of the "Greenopolis" residential project in Gurugram, developed jointly by 3C Shelters and Orris Infrastructure. Around 1,650 homebuyers paid roughly Rs. 1,160 crore combined, but the developers allegedly siphoned off hundreds of crores instead of completing the project, leading to an FIR, an Enforcement Directorate (ED) money-laundering probe with asset attachment, and a parallel corporate insolvency process (CIRP) against 3C Shelters under the IBC. Two rival homebuyer associations (Greenopolis Welfare Association and Greenopolis Welfare Confederation) and the insolvency professional (IRP) for 3C Shelters gave conflicting accounts of who should control the attached assets and how homebuyers should be compensated, with several other private parties (Lavender, Lotus Valley, White Lotus) separately claiming that some attached properties actually belonged to them, not the fraud accused.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that an earlier order (27.11.2025) of the PMLA Special Court, which had directed "restoration" of ED-attached assets essentially to the IRP based on an undertaking he gave, was legally flawed: the applicant association (GWC) was not a proper "claimant" under the PMLA rules, the order wrongly mixed up the separate PMLA and IBC legal regimes, and it was issued before criminal charges were even framed (a precondition under the relevant PMLA Rule). That order, along with two related interim orders, was set aside. However, given the scale of the fraud and the urgent need to help genuine homebuyers, the Court did not simply send everyone back to square one: it appointed a high-level Monitoring Committee (chaired by a former Chief Justice of India) to verify genuine homebuyer claims, catalogue the ED-attached assets, and prepare the ground for eventual restitution, while making clear the insolvency professional (IRP) would have no role in this PMLA-side process and that third parties like Lavender/Lotus Valley/White Lotus remain free to separately contest whether their properties were wrongly attached.

Lesson Learnt

When a builder collapses amid allegations of fraud, money seized by enforcement agencies cannot simply be handed over informally based on an "undertaking" by an insolvency official, restoring cheated buyers' money or property requires following the specific legal procedure (including proper claimant status and framed charges) under the anti-money-laundering law, and courts may step in with independent oversight mechanisms to speed up real relief for victims without short-circuiting those legal safeguards.

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