Marketing unregistered project: Complaint filed against Adani Realty

Mumbai: Leading consumer rights protection body Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) has lodged a complaint with housing regulator MahaRERA against Adani Realty for allegedly advertising and marketing a luxury housing project on Andheri RTO land without obtaining the mandatory MahaRERA registration

Mumbai: Leading consumer rights protection body Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) has lodged a complaint with housing regulator MahaRERA against Adani Realty for allegedly advertising and marketing a luxury housing project on Andheri RTO land without obtaining the mandatory MahaRERA registration.

MGP chairperson Adv Shirish Deshpande said the leaflets of the yet unnamed project were being circulated through newspapers with Adani Realty logo, with a MahaRERA registration number at the bottom of the advertisement in fine print

MGP chairperson Adv Shirish Deshpande said the leaflets of the yet unnamed project were being circulated through newspapers with Adani Realty logo, with a MahaRERA registration number at the bottom of the advertisement in fine print. “When I cross-checked this registration number on the MahaRERA website, I was shocked to see that it belonged to an old project of Adani group at Four Bungalows, Andheri (west). This project is already complete and even the said registration has expired,” Deshpande told HT. The registration number in the ad -- P51800001290 -- belonged to Western Heights Phase 1 project in DN Nagar, a 30-storey high-rise which had a completion date of June 30, 2019.

MGP activist Dr Archana Sabnis then contacted people through the numbers displayed in the advertisement and was informed that it was not registered with MahaRERA yet and that the developer was in the process of doing so. However, more than 4,000 consumers had registered their names for booking in this unregistered project, she found out. Given this background, MGP has now approached MahaRERA chairman, Ajoy Mehta, raising strong objections and sought legal action against Adani Realty for violating Section 3 of RERA.

Section 3 of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), 2016, states: “No promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale, or invite persons to purchase in any manner any plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, in any real estate project or part of it, in any planning area, without registering the real estate project with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority established under this Act.”

The violation of Section 3 has stringent penalties. Section 59 of RERA empowers MahaRERA to impose a penalty which can be extended up to 10 per cent of the total project cost for such a breach. Section 60 provides for penalties that can be extended up to 5 per cent of the total project cost for giving false information.

“Even if a channel partner may have done it, it is the responsibility of the concerned developer. MGP has urged MahaRERA chairperson to impose penalties of 10 per cent and 5 per cent of the project cost on Adani Realty and keep on hold the project registration till its final order in the matter,” said Deshpande.

When contacted, Adani Realty distanced itself from the ads. A spokesperson said, “The company has not issued any such ads. Our project is in the process of registration. It appears that one of our brokers or channel partners may have done this. We have clear guidelines, and a code of conduct for our channel partners.”

The developer has a Primo Pass programme to apprise channel partners of Adani Realty’s projects registered with RERA. If channel partners choose to advertise any specific project without the company’s knowledge, the company reserves the right to initiate appropriate actions against such channel partners, says the disclaimer in its guidelines.

MahaRERA has in the past fined big developers for violating Section 3 provisions for releasing newspaper ads without the registration number. The registration of an ongoing project has been made mandatory to enable home buyers to transparently verify all details of the project, its approvals, and encumbrances. In fact, the housing regulator has also geo-mapped all ongoing projects and the link given on the registration page of any ongoing project on MahaRERA portal enables home buyers to view the exact location, and trace nearby amenities like hospitals, schools and the connectivity to the project.

MahaRERA is yet to give a ruling on the MGP complaint.