Ajit John
PANJIM: DLF Limited has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in the recent past. Earlier last week the stock market regulator Sebi cracked down on the company by barring the company’s six top executives from accessing the securities market for three years. This included the promoter-chairman KP Singh thus choking its options to raise fresh funds.
This was due to lapses in disclosure in 2007 when the company went public. The order was the outcome of a four year investigation into the manner in which shares were transferred by three affiliates of the company in three other allegedly related firms –Sudipti, Shalika and Felicite.
The company which is labeled the largest commercial real estate developers in the country grew very fast over the last couple of decades.
As of March 31, 2012, the company had a 1.38 thousand square feet of leased retail space across the country. In 2013-14, it leased out 3 million sq ft of office space in India. DLF has about 25 million sq ft of leased office space spread across Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Chennai, which generates a rental of about Rs 1,950 crore every year and supports Rs 12,000 crore of the company’s debt.
The company has presence in Goa too which has evoked much comment. The company has four projects in the state of which work on one has been suspended due to the matter being in court.
Speaking to the Herald, Col ( Retd) Ravi Rajan Vice President –Operations at DLF India ltd and based in Goa said that the recent coverage in the media about the company would have no effect on the projects presently on in the state.
He said “The problems in Delhi will be sorted out by the senior management and we who are based in Goa are focused on the projects we are undertaking here”.
The company has the project at Dabolim which generated controversy and which is now suspended following a court ruling. In addition there are projects in Reis Magos, Patto Plaza and Peddem.
Ravi Rajan said the company had received the permissions and had paid the external consultants to do the work they had been assigned to do so. These projects he said would not be affected.
The Reis Magos project he said would be completed by 2016 and since it was residential the interested parties could take possession on schedule at a date given to them. with regards to this projects itself there has been some heat with the Herald recently reporting that the NGO Human Rights Defenders (HRD) had approached the Goa Police to act against a town planner for what they called ‘illegally sanctioning’ the DLF residential project, at Reis Magos hill, close to the Naval base.
They had demanded the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to direct the police to register FIR against Vertiga Dagur. After failing to get respite from the Chief Town Planner to their complaint against Dagur last November, HDR had lodged a complaint with Porvorim Police Station alleging connivance with DLF Company for granting the licence. The demand to revoke the licence was also not adhered to.
The complaint copy read “In order to show that DLF’s land is having a direct access to the main road, DLF had fraudulently shown on, its architectural plan that part of the land bearing Survey No 103/1 measuring 332sqmtrs, belongs to it. In reality, DLF is only the owner of land in Sy No 87/1-A and not of Sy No 103/1”.
The project in Pernem is ongoing and the acquisition of land is being undertaken. The project involves the construction of 3 and 4 bedroom villas. Ravi refused to speculate on the price of the villas saying that the company had faced its share of opposition because it was not a Goan company.
He said “There are vested interested ready to whip up emotion and delay the project which is unfortunate. We get all the necessary permissions and then move ahead with the projects.”
Asked what his reaction to the DLF issue was and its effects in Goa Desh Prabhudessai, President of the Goa Chapter of CREDAI said that if the concerned party had all its papers in order then they should be worried. Perhaps that is a sentiment to be followed in letter and spirit.
