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Informist, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a decision of the director of the Haryana town and country planning department to allow Ambience Developers and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. to develop commercial buildings in a plot, which was originally meant to be a housing project. Although the entire 18-acre plot in Gurgaon was earmarked for a housing project, the developer was allowed to build Ambience Mall and Leela Ambience Hotel on part of the land. The top court set aside a 2020 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that had quashed the town and country planning director's approval granted to Ambience Developers.

 

The apex court said that the high court's directions to the Central Bureau of Investigation to register a first information report on the entire issue were also uncalled for, as they were issued on unverified and inconclusive material. However, the CBI had registered a first information report in the meantime, though it held that the delicensing of eight acres of land was in accordance with the law.

 

The top court noted that the only illegality attributed to Ambience Developers and its directors pertains to the alleged misrepresentation in the agreements with apartment buyers. The CBI had said that builder Raj Singh Gehlot, director of Ambience Developers and Infrastructure, had fraudulently executed builder buyer agreements with the dishonest intention from the beginning. Gehlot had concealed material facts from the buyers, and the true nature of the property was not transparently conveyed to the buyers, the CBI said. Gehlot and the company committed cheating, punishable under the Indian Penal Code, the CBI said. These issues would be considered and adjudicated before the competent court, the top court said.

 

The construction of the Ambience Mall and the Leela Ambience Hotel commenced in 2002 and were completed in 2007-2008, the top court said. The flats in Ambience Lagoon Residential Colony had been occupied at the beginning of this period, and thus, the flat owners cannot be expected to be ignorant of the construction activities going on in the area appurtenant to the residential colony, the court said. The silence and indifference shown by the flat owners in taking any action for almost a decade regarding the alleged violation of their rights cast serious doubt on the bona fides of the actions of the writ petitioners, the court said.

 

The top court also stayed the recommendations of the expert committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal, including a fine of INR 1.39 billion against Ambience Developers, environmental compensation of INR 103 million, withholding of 25–50% of profits, and possible demolition of the commercial complex.

 

The tribunal had formed a committee to examine whether the revised plan implemented by the company after the allotment of apartments had illegally deprived the flat owners of their entitlement to ecological benefits envisaged under the original plan. The flatowners had alleged that the construction of the commercial complex, situated directly in front of the residential flats, had obstructed their access to natural light and air. "We are of the considered opinion that the issues sought to be agitated before the NGT (National Green Tribunal) and those forming the subject matter of dispute in the proceedings before the high court were overlapping to a great extent and hence, the decision of the NGT without taking into account the pendency and scope of the proceedings before the high court on issues involving seriously disputed questions of fact, is indeed questionable," the apex court said.

 

The flat owners of Ambience Lagoon said the developers originally planned to use 18.93 acres of land in Gurgaon to set up a group housing complex. However, the developers sought to delicense 8 acres of land for commercial projects, which was never mentioned in the builder-buyer agreements between the parties and was therefore illegal, the flat owners said.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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