The Supreme Court issued notice on May 27 in Vandana Sabharwal's petition against the Union of India and others, setting July 15 as the return date. The one-page order identifies the case as WP(C) 661/2026 and the bench as Chief Justice Surya Kant with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi.
The Economic Times reported that the homebuyer sought a Reserve Bank supervisory review or comprehensive audit of banks' exposure to property projects. Her requests also included investigation of alleged diversion of buyers' funds, project-wise scrutiny of developer accounts and restrictions on mortgaging project land without buyer consent and regulatory clearance.
LiveLaw's account places the dispute in Jaypee Wishtown's Kasablanca project. It reports the petitioner's claim that payment more than a decade earlier had produced neither possession nor a refund, and that the project's registration had expired in December 2021. Those assertions describe the grievance placed before the court, not findings made in the notice order.
The reported petition also seeks court-supervised investigation and action over allegedly undervalued transfers during the wider Jaypee insolvency dispute. Its proposed safeguards include ring-fenced accounts and transparent auctions for land transfers between developers. The immediate judicial step is narrower: the inspected order directs notice, without ordering an audit or deciding liability.
Existing statutory safeguards provide relevant context. Section 4 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act requires 70% of money realised from allottees for a project to enter a separate scheduled-bank account for land and construction costs. Withdrawals are linked to the project's percentage of completion and require professional certification.
The provision specifies certification by an engineer, architect and practising chartered accountant. It also requires an annual audit within six months of the financial year's end to check project-specific use and proportionate withdrawals. The petition therefore raises enforcement and additional-supervision demands against a background of existing account controls, rather than introducing the idea of protected project funds for the first time.
