Bombay HC ruling on RERA a blow to govt

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 10

An order by the Bombay High Court upholding constitutional validity of RERA, Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, with ongoing projects included, has come as a blow for the Haryana Government as it had kept a majority of ongoing projects out of purview while framing rules under the Act.

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs (independent charge) Hardeep Singh Puri’s statement yesterday that state governments would have no scope to loosen regulation by either keeping ongoing projects out of RERA or defining those in their convenient ways added to the government’s discomfiture.

The minister was quoted as saying though the Central legislation always included ongoing projects under the ambit of RERA, some state governments deviated from it, which would not be possible now.

“Even before the court order, I was in touch with various state governments on the issue. I had sent letters for inclusion of ongoing projects under RERA. The states which have diluted RERA will have to comply now,” he was quoted as saying.

A Bench of the Bombay High Court pronounced its judgment on Wednesday on a bunch of petitions by real estate developers.

In September, the Supreme Court had asked other high courts where pleas had been filed by builders and others challenging the provisions of RERA to await the decision of the Bombay High Court before deciding matters.

Haryana had kept a majority of ongoing projects out of the purview of RERA, allegedly under influence of builders.

In rules approved by the state government in July, only fresh projects were to be covered under RERA and all projects under construction or applied for were kept out.

The government had justified the move by saying rules framed by it took care of both home buyers as well as builders.

Gaurav Prakash, heading the group Undiluted RERA in Gurugram, said today that the government should implement the Central law in letter and in spirit.

He alleged that thousands of home buyers had been duped by builders in the state while the BJP government was out to undo the efforts of Narendra Modi government, which had enacted a stringent law to protect them.

Principal Secretary, Town and Country Planning Department, Arun Kumar Gupta, said he was yet to study the court order and would not be able to comment prior to it.