There is no Appointed Regulatory/Adjudicatory Authority in J&K to monitor Real Estate Industry

DAYA SAGAR

To be brief with the growing real estate culture and increasing scope/ demands for that in urban sector Government of India had been receiving complaints from the individual flat/apartment / plot buyers that real estate transactions were being at places conducted on unequal footings more in favour of/ to the choice of developers / promoters and hence for ensuring equitable and fair transactions between the seller and the buyer of properties Rajya Sabha on 10 March, 2016 and Lok Sabha on the 15 March, 2016 passed The Real Estate (Regulation And Development) Act, 2016, Act No : 16 of 2016 (came in force on 1st May 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 (RERA) to exercise the powers conferred on it and to perform the functions assigned to it under this Act.
In common man language it could be said that the RER&D Act of 2016 intends to enable the transfer of undue risk liabilities from Customers to promoters, builders, developers and even the real estate agents. Since RERA clearly lays down the rights, responsibilities and functions of all parties/ stake holders in the ‘relate projects /housing colonies’, the RERA when appointed is expected to significantly curve the malpractices and penalise offences committed by not only the promoters but also ,if there any, on the part of allottees. Even he intending buyers are reasonably secured under the Act since no sale or advertisement of an un registered real estate project is permitted without prior registration with the RERA where under it is also mandatory to disclose all the project accounts, audit report, the details of the promoters , developers, agents, engineers, architects and approvals obtained from concerned of authorities etc, which are to be published on a single website. Not only that the Act also calls for compulsory maintenance of a separate bank account for each project of which atleast 70% must be used for the same project only thereby reducing stalling of project due to funds diversion. There has to be a timely grievance redressal process with empowered officers like commissioner regulator/adjudication officer empowered to investigate concerns regarding infringement of the Act and even Real Estate Appellate Tribunal ( REAT) to be formed to deal with appeals more quickly.
A period of 60 days is specified for redressals.
But that has not been the position in UT of J&K and UT of Ladakh even after 6 years of the enactment of The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, Act No : 16 of 2016.
The RER&D A Act of 2016 made mandatory for each State (except J&K State Section 1.1 ) and Union Territory to form its own regulations and frame the rules that will govern the functioning of the regulator. Under Section-3 of the RER&D Act of 2016 it has been made mandatory for the promoters 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 . Each phase is to be treated as standalone real estate project requiring new registration. How important is the existence and role of RERA for securing the interests of the buyers and even the environment in a state could well be assessed even from the roll of documents / requirements laid for registration in Section-4.
As per reports The J&K Housing and Urban Development Department had on 16-02-2021 issued an advertisement inviting applications from eligible/desirous persons for selection to the post of Chairperson and Member(s) of the RERA. The appointments, as per the notification, were to be made “in accordance with the provisions of Sections 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 read with Rule 17 of the J&K Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2020. But no any Real Estate Regulation Authority has been appointed and is functional in J&K even 2 years after 2021 and as per information received from official sources as on 24-05-2023 “vide Notification No 357 dated 01.08.2022 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.”
(The author is a Sr Journalist &
analyst of J&K Affairs. [email protected]).