Home buyers expect improvement in RERA implementation after Supreme Court designation
New Delhi:
The top homebuyer’s body Forum for People’s Collective Efforts (FPCE) expects the implementation of real estate law RERA to improve following the recent Supreme Court’s instruction to the Center to examine state-created rules and see if they affect the interest of the serve consumers.
Last month, the Supreme Court instructed the Center to investigate whether the rules set up by several states under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 (RERA) are in line with central law and serve the best interests of home buyers.
A bench of Judges DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant gave the Center three months to investigate whether there are discrepancies between the rules drafted by the states and those drafted by the Center in 2016, and to review the report against the first to be published week of May 2022.
When contacted, FPCE President Abhay Kumar Upadhyay said: “Despite five years of full implementation, RERA is still not close to its intended target.” The main reason for this is that the states entrusted with the responsibility for its implementation have not followed uniformity in their general real estate and sales contract rules, he stressed.
“Their (states) rules were not within the four corners of the provisions of RERA. This took the sting out of the law and homebuyers were deprived of the benefits of RERA,” said Mr. Upadhyay.
On the other hand, the association’s president said, builders took full advantage of this, fading fears that RERA would catch them.
“In view of this, although late, this Supreme Court ruling will set things right and many home buyers will benefit from it,” he added.
Most importantly, this ruling would break most builders’ belief that they are above the law or that they can take the law for granted, he said.
“I sincerely hope that both the Ministry to whom the task has been directly assigned and the Amicus who has also been given the responsibility will devote sufficient time and report not only all discrepancies, but also missing content that could lead to loopholes in the implementation of RERA left behind.” said Mr. Upadhyay.
This order has renewed hopes among homebuyers that sooner or later they will get justice, he added.
Ramesh Nair, CEO of Colliers India, said the Supreme Court’s decision to examine states’ RERA rules is significant as there is a lack of uniformity in agreements between contractors and buyers on different states’ RERA rules.
“This directive will contribute to accountability and transparency in transactions between home buyers and developers in several cases,” he said.
The anomalies mainly existed with regard to the payment schedule, delivery schedule and associated delays, as well as liability for structural defects, emphasized Mr Nair.
