Supreme Court To MOHUA: Is It Working? Report Back Please.

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Rolling out a grand beneficial policy is one thing but making sure it is being implemented to help the common homebuyer is a different tale altogether. 

But thank the stars for our apex court and its follow-ups. 

Hey! What Happened To That?

The Supreme Court has directed the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MOHUA) to find out whether the rules adopted by various States under RERA comply with those framed by the Centre or is it a careless free for all at the State level. 

On Valentine's Day, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant gave the Centre 90 days to figure out if there are any deviations in the rules framed by the states to those laid down by the Centre in 2016. 

The deadline to present the report is the first week of May, 2022, per this detailed report by Vandana Ramnani.

How Did We Get Here?

With time, there were increasing instances of deliberate inordinate delays by builders in handing over apartment possession, and when homebuyers lodged complaints, the police did zilch, citing arbitrary clauses of the agreement. 

📅 On October 4, 2021, the apex court directed the Centre to frame model agreements for builder-buyer and agent-buyer transactions, to usher in more transparency to the home buying process.

📅 Then, on November 8, 2021, the Supreme Court reiterated that a model builder-buyer agreement is needed ASAP and the Centre should file its reply on the issue as it is an "important matter in the public interest."

📅 Lastly, on January 17 this year, the top court told the Centre that it was not in favour of state governments having separate builder-buyer agreements, but would rather prefer a national-level model to deter builders from leaving homebuyers in limbo.

Middle Class Folks Rattled By Budget22?

Here are some words of relief:

🎙 "We are concerned about the broader public interest of the middle-class homebuyers,", said Justices Chandrachud and Surya Kant, as they pushed MOHUA for the compliance report.