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Known only to suffering home buyers, here's something that's been happening with RERA orders - builders are simply finding jurisdiction loopholes in RERA's authority to prevent aggrieved home buyers from getting the ordered relief.
The Backstory
Per MoneyControl, the real estate market of Uttar Pradesh in general and Noida-Greater Noida in particular is a hotbed of consumer grievances, and some estimates say that nearly 40% of all homebuyer grievances in India are from this market alone.It is, therefore, no surprise that even when the Real Estate Regulatory Authority proposes to clean up the market, the builders devise their own means to oppose it.
Who's There? The Supreme Court
- First, which projects come under RERA - The apex court carified that the projects that didn’t have Completion Certificate (even if with Occupancy Certificate) as on May 1, 2017 fall within the ambit of RERA.
- Second, a key issue decided by the apex court is on the amount to be deposited by the developer with the Appellate Tribunal before its appeal is admitted against a RERA order. This deposit is now 100% of the amount payable by the builder.
- Third, the apex court has held that pre-existing contracts (i.e. contracts in existence prior to RERA coming into effect) will be read as per RERA and thereby the legislative has the power to make an Act retroactive and therefore RERA does not violate the Constitution of India.
Will It Work?
Legal minds think that some of the strongest defiance from the builder community to RERA have been based on one or more of these three core issues.
With the core gone, at least half of the disputes that saw a spanner in the works of justice, should automatically disappear, and builders will have to fall in line.
A tagged topic now, we will keep you posted on RERA's turbocharged avatar as time goes.