RER&D Act 2016 makes mandatory to establish RERA within a year, But does J&K have a regular RERA ?

No adhoc authority or ex-officio body can effectively deliver contents of RER&D Act 2016

Without a Regular Regulation Authority grievances of Urban apartment buyers cannot be addressed fairly

DAYA SAGAR

It is not out of place to mention here that before 2016 the Government of India had been receiving complaints from the individual flat/apartment / plot buyers that real estate transactions were going on unequal footings more in favour of/ to the choice of developers / promoters and hence the Government aiming at creating environment for equitable and fair transactions between the seller and the buyer of properties came up with an bill , for installation of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) for making real estate purchases secure through transparency and accountability, that was introduced in Rajya Sabha (passed on the 10th March, 2016) , passed by Lok Sabha on the 15 March, 2016 and came in force on 1 May 2016 in the form of THE REAL ESTATE (REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT) ACT, 2016, Act No : 16 of 2016 where Section-20 Sub Section-1 lays down that The appropriate Government shall, within a period of one year from the date of coming into force of this Act, by notification, establish an Authority to be known as the Real Estate Regulatory Authority to exercise the powers conferred on it and to perform the functions assigned to it under this Act.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, Act No : 16 is an Act to establish the Real Estate Regulatory Authority for regulation and promotion of the real estate sector and to ensure sale of plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, or sale of real estate project, in an efficient and transparent manner and to protect the interest of consumers in the real estate sector and to establish an adjudicating mechanism for speedy dispute redressal and also to establish the Appellate Tribunal to hear appeals from the decisions, directions or orders of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority and the adjudicating officer and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 makes it mandatory provision for establishing Real Estate Regulatory Authority ( RERA) in each State (except J&K Section-1.1) /UT for regulation of the Real Estate Sectorand particularly for securing the interests of the buyers of services from real estate project promoters.
But J&K could not immediately have an own Act for RERA and it was only after 2 years that in 2018 the then J&K State Administrative Council too had approved the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act , Governor’s Act No LIII of 2018 notified on 16-12-2018 which had almost similar provisions as in Act No 16 of 2016 of Parliament but no any RERA was put in place even upto the day the J&K state was reorganised into UTs of J&K & Ladakh when under the provisions of the J&K Reorganization Act 2019,theJ&K RER&D Act of 2018 was repealed and The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, Act No:16 of 2016 became applicable for UT of J&K.The Section 84(1) of the RER&D Act of 2016 confers powers on the Governments of States and Union Territories to frame Rules to carry out the implementation of law and The Administrative Council of UT of J&K under the chairmanship of G.C. Murmu LG framed J&K Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2020 which were notified by the Housing and J&K Urban Development Department on in July , 2020 under the provisions of RER&D Act, 2016.
It was then hoped that atleast in 2020 a regular Real Estate Regulatory Authority would be installed in J&K for regulation of the real estate sector and securing the interests of the buyers of lands/ apartments viz. viz real estate promotors in the public / private / co- operative /Self Financed Co-operative Sector but that appears to have not happened even nearly 3 years after August 2019.
No doubt it was reported in 2021 that J&K had initiated the process for constituting a regular RERA and once again it was only in August 2022 that J&K Government vide S.O 357 of 01-08-2022 appointed
Parimal Rai IAS ( Retd) in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 22 of Real Estate( Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 as Chairperson of Jammu & Kashmir Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) laying down that the appointment to have effect from the date he takes charge of the post in the authority. It was hoped that regular RERA will be constituted soon after that but No any notification has come sight after that about appointment of atleast two more members of the Authority ( Section- 21 of the act) even when we are in 2023.Till date the RERA has not become operational in a regular manner and it is not known whether Parimal Rai has taken charge of post and if taken, from where the RERA is operating. The writer tried to find the status with available common means like any available website of RERA ( which has not been located), also sent the quarry via email to JK Housing and Urban Department ([email protected],dheerajjk @gmail. com, Cc: [email protected]) on 10-12-2022 and reminder request on 14-12-2022 but no reply has been received till this time (2253 Hrs 04-01-2023).Even a quarry was made on JK Grievance cell (awazaawam.uniso.in/AwazAAwam/ index.aspx) on 16-12-2022 G. No 999001268968 but till 2306 Hrs of 04-01-2023 it showed the status as ‘Grievance Summitted’ like it was on 17-12-2022. On 02-01-2023 another Grievance under number 999001268975 was submitted as reminder and the Status on 04-02-2023 was again ‘grievance submitted’ even when the quarry was simply about operational address of regular RERA and whether Piramal Rai appointed as Chairman RERA under S.O. 357 of 01-08-2022 had joined or not. Such response from above ‘IT channels’ too reflects how dependable is the so much talked about e- governance. Looking at role of RERA no any time being authority or Ex-Officio body can even attend to the day to day requirements of real estate promoters and real estate beneficiaries what to talk of handling disputes/ social issues and legal issues.
One can well Imagine to what undue and large socio-economic damages / stresses the buyers of apartments / flats from some of the real estate promotors in J&K would have been put even after 2016 during last 6 years by just going through RER&D Act 2016 , particularly Section -11.3 ( documents to be provided by promoters to buyers of apartments , Section- 11.4 ( obligations of the promoter / seller towards the buyer/ buyers of apartments and that like Section- 14.3 :- “In case any structural defect or any other defect in workmanship, quality or provision of services or any other obligations of the promoter as per the agreement for sale relating to such development is brought to the notice of the promoter within a period of five years by the allottee from the date of handing over possession, it shall be the duty of the promoter to rectify such defects without further charge, within thirty days, and in the event of promoter’s failure to rectify such defects within such time, the aggrieved allottees shall be entitled to receive appropriate compensation in the manner as provided under this Act.

(The author is Sr Journalist, social activist and analyst J&K affairs [email protected])