HC stays proposed hike in registration fee for realty brokers

Property brokers also want the government to consider a single licence for businesses across the country instead of getting registered separately in every state.

Real estate brokers who had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority’s (HRERA’s) demand for higher registration fee, got relief from the court which stayed the demand made by the authority on Friday.

The Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority’s (HRERA) had asked brokers to pay Rs 2.25 lakh more as yearly registration fee. (HT PHOTO)

The brokers, who are registered with the authority, had opposed the HRERA’s decision to equate sole proprietorship firms with other entities such as sole partnership firm or a company. The brokers submitted that by doing so, the authority was asking them to pay Rs 2.25 lakh more as yearly registration fee, which, they claimed, was unjust and against the norms.

After hearing the matter on Friday, Justice RK Jain of Punjab and Haryana High Court granted a stay on the direction of the authority, said Ashish Chopra, advocate, who appeared for petitioners.

“The court gave respite to the petitioners, who were facing deregistration from August 31. The next date of hearing is September 11,” he added. They had petitioned the court on August 16.

Chopra said their submission to the court was that sole proprietorship is not a separate entity from an individual, and both are one and the same.

“The interpretation of HRERA, that an individual was different from his brand name and that it is not an individual, is not right,” he said.

Despite heaving a sigh of relief, the brokers maintained that the HC stay was only a partial victory for them.

“This order needs to hold ground in the long run so that brokers get justice. It is not possible to pay such money in Gurugram and also get licences in other states, including Delhi, Noida and Rajasthan,” said Ravinder Aggarwal, a broker, who is part of the 40-member group that approached the court.

The broker community also wants the government to consider a single licence for businesses across the country instead of getting registered separately in every state.

“If we can have a single licence for everything, then why not for brokers?” Aggarwal questioned.

Meanwhile, HRERA (Gurugram) chairperson KK Khandelwal said, “It is their right to approach a higher forum for grievance redressal. We want this issue to be settled so we don’t face audit problems. If it is decided in their favour, we welcome it. We have no issues. We ourselves asked them to go to the High Court so that this issue is cleared. They are our partners in realising growth of real estate in Gurugram.”