Hope J&K will have operating & delivering RERA before next Real Estate Summit is held in Srinagar

J&K Real Estate Regulatory Authority is ‘headless’-No authority is Functional as on Date
Imagine miseries of buyers who might have taken possession of ‘FLATS’ from promoters even after 2016

DAYA SAGAR

It was reported in 2021 that J&K had initiated the process for constituting a regular Real Estate (Regulation And Development) Authority (RERA ) in terms of Real Estate (Regulation And Development) Act 2016 and 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 would be constituted soon after that but no any notification was issued about appointment of atleast two more members of the Authority ( Section- 21 of the act) and it was nowhere in public domain whether RERA had become operational and from where it was operating.
The affected parties ( buyers of apartments/ flats etc from promoters/ Companies/ Cooperative societies /Corporations ) were not able to ‘locate’ the window where they could submit their demands/ proposals / grievances and whether authority had started operating under Sh. Parimal Rai IAS or not even after quarries initiated by the writer in December 2022 for not functional ‘website’ of J&K RERA via email to JK Housing and Urban Department ([email protected], [email protected], Cc: [email protected]) on 10-12-2022 / reminder request on 14-12-2022 and after quarry was made on JK Grievance cell (awazaawam.uniso.in/ AwazAAwam/ index.aspx) on 16-12-2022 G. No 999001268968 / on 02-01-2023 G No 999003861258 /on 27-04-2023 GN0 999001268975 / on 30-04-2023 G No 999003867993 about status of J&K Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) / joining of Sh. Parimal Rai IAS ( Retd) as Chairman of RERA it has been only on 25 May 2023 that the JK Grievance portal finally disclosed the present status with the reference of Housing and Urban Development Department as (“Vide Notification No 357 dated 01.08.2022 Mr. Primal Rai, IAS (Retd) was appointed as Chairman RERA. However, because of some personal reasons the Officer submitted his resignation which was accepted by the authorities and from the date of resignation of the Chairman RERA the Authority is headless, therefore the authority is not functional as on date. As regards operationalize of the authority it is submitted that only web portal of the Authority is being handled by the J&K Housing Board and rest of the functionality of the authority is not being handled by any of the authorities/ organizations”
Such ‘quality’ response from ‘designated channels’ well reflects how dependable is the so much talked about e- governance. Looking at importance of role of RERA even 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.

Grievances have been forthe buyers not being attended by some promoters for manufacturing defects which under Act is mandatory / obligation on the part of promoter upto 5 years from the date the promoter / seller handover the flat to a buyer after obtaining completion / inspection certificates from the designated authorities.

One can well Imagine , by just having even a casual look at some elements/sections of RER&D Act 2016, 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 during last 6 years , particularly like Section -11 Functions and duties of promoter like SUB SECTION -11.3 ( The promoter, at the time of the booking and issue of allotment letter shall be responsible to make available to the allottee, the following information, namely:- (a) sanctioned plans, layout plans, along with specifications, approved by the competent authority, by display at the site or such other place as may be specified by the regulations made by the Authority; (b) the stage wise time schedule of completion of the project, including the provisions for civic infrastructure like water, sanitation and electricity ) &Sub Section- 11.4 { obligations of the promoter / seller towards the buyer/ buyers of apartments like The promoter shall- (a) be responsible for all obligations, responsibilities and functions under the provisions of this Act or the rules and regulations made thereunder or to the allottees as per the agreement for sale, or to the association of allottees, as the case may be, till the conveyance of all the apartments, plots or buildings, as the case may be, to the allottees, or the common areas to the association of allottees or the competent authority, as the case may be: Provided that the responsibility of the promoter, with respect to the structural defect or any other defect for such period as is referred to in sub-section (3) of section 14, shall continue even after the conveyance deed of all the apartments, plots or buildings, as the case may be, to the allottees are executed. (b) be responsible to obtain the completion certificate or the occupancy certificate, or both, as applicable, from the relevant competent authority as per local laws or other laws for the time being in force and to make it available to the allottees individually or to the association of allottees, as the case may be; (c) be responsible to obtain the lease certificate, where the real estate project is developed on a leasehold land, specifying the period of lease, and certifying that all dues and charges in regard to the leasehold land has been paid, and to make the lease certificate available to the association of allottees; (d) be responsible for providing and maintaining the essential services, on reasonable charges, till the taking over of the maintenance of the project by the association of the allottees; 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), Section-4 where the information & documents required for registration are mentioned { like (a) a brief details of his enterprise …(b) a brief detail of the projects launched by him, in the past five years, …(c) an authenticated copy of the approvals and commencement certificate from the competent authority …(d) the sanctioned plan, layout plan and specifications of the proposed project or the phase thereof, (e) the plan of development works to be executed in the proposed project and the proposed facilities to be provided thereof including fire fighting facilities, drinking water facilities, (g) proforma of the allotment letter, agreement for sale, and the conveyance deed proposed to be signed with the allottees; (i) the number and areas of garage for sale in the project; (j) the names and addresses of his real estate agents, if any, for the proposed project; ..; and Section-3 where under it has been mandatory for the promotors of all commercial and residential real estate projects where the land is over 500 (five hundred) square meters or Eight (8) apartments to register with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) before launching a project and for on-going projects yet to receive completion certificate ( on the date of the commencement of the Act) to seek registration within 3 months and like . Each phase is to be treated as standalone real estate project requiring new registration……
Under the circumstances where a functional J&K RERA have not been appointed even by June 2023 the needy urban buyers with their hard earned/ saved money are at occasions being forced (by circumstances) in some cases to buy apartments / plots without any printed prospectus having the project details / administrative /revenue record status given to them and may be being made by some to even taking possession without an completion certificates from the authorities.
The Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh has said while at Jammu on 06-06-2023 that a Real Estate summit was held in the past Jammu and another Real Estate Summit is on the cards to be held in Srinagar shortly. Hope J&K will also have a regular operating and delivering RERA atleast before another Real Estate Summit is held in Srinagar. No doubt Real Estate Summit held on 27 Dec 2021 in Jammu was seen as first-ever Real Estate Summit.
(The author is Sr Journalist, social activist and analyst J&K Affairs [email protected]).