EXPLAINED: Why were Noida's Supertech Twin Towers demolished? All you need to know

The controversial Supertech Twin Towers in Sector 93A of Noida were razed to the ground on Sunday, August 28. The mammoth task was executed via ‘controlled implosion’, by the Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering which partnered with South Africa's Jet Demolitions. While it only took 9 seconds, with explosive connections on each of the floors of the Ceyane (29 floors) and Apex (32 floors), it came as a big blow - monetary and symbolic - to corruption. But why the extreme step? 

Why were Noida's Twin Towers demolished? 

In 2004, New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) allotted to Supertech a plot of land measuring 48,263 square metres. The very next year, in 2005, the building plan for the construction of ‘Supertech Emerald Court’, each with the ground and nine floors was sanctioned under New Okhla Industrial Development Area Building Regulations and Directions, 1986. In 2006, an additional area of 6556.51 sq. metres was allotted to the developer. 

In the same year, after the New Okhla Industrial Development Area Building Regulations and Directions, 2006 was notified, a new and revised plan was sanctioned. The new plan included the construction of two additional floors for the towers, two more towers, and a shopping complex. In 2009, the plan was re-revised to include the twin high-rise buildings — Apex and Ceyane. 

In 2010, the New Okhla Building Industrial Development Area Building Regulations and Directions Area Building Regulations, 2010 came into force, which directed, "Distance between two adjacent building blocks shall be minimum 6 meters to a maximum of 16 meters, depending on the height of the blocks. For building heights up to 18 meters, the distance should be 6 metre and spacing shall be increased by 1 metre for every addition of 3 metres, as per National Building Code 2005."

However, in 2012, the third building plan was sanctioned, by which the height of Ceyane and Apex was permitted to be raised from 24 floors to 40 floors, resulting in the buildings' height being 121 metres. In this case, the distance between the building blocks should have been 16 metres, but it was 9 metres, deficient by 7 metres. 

Thereafter, the CFO, addressed a communication to Noida Authority in regards to the violation of the minimum distance between the towers.

Following this, the Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA) of the society moved to Allahabad High Court stating that the construction was illegal.  Accordingly, in 2014, the court directed the authority to demolish the twin towers within four months (at its own expense) from the date the order was passed. 

Against the Allahabad High Court's order, the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority and Supertech approached the Supreme Court challenging this order. The apex court upheld the ruling of the Allahabad High Court and ordered the demolition of the buildings within three months. However, the demolition has been delayed for over a year.

The date for demolition has been fixed for August 28, with a “bandwidth of seven days” between August 29 to September 4, 2022, in order to take into account any marginal delay on account of technical reasons or weather conditions.