Uttar Pradesh Rera seeks amendment in its law, wants more powers

According to officials, the move comes after the chairman of the UP Rera and its members realised that the newly formed authority needs to have more powers to resolve homebuyers’ issues in a time-bound manner without hindrances.

The Uttar Pradesh real estate regulatory (UP Rera) authority on Sunday said that it has written to the ministry of housing and urban affairs and also to the Uttar Pradesh government seeking amendments in the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

Uttar Pradesh Rera seeks amendment in its law, wants (HT Photo)

According to officials, the move comes after the chairman of the UP Rera and its members realised that the newly formed authority needs to have more powers to resolve homebuyers’ issues in a time-bound manner without hindrances.

As of now, the real estate regulatory body does not have the power to issue directives to the municipal, industrial or other government agencies in matters related with homebuyers’ complaints.

“Therefore we have written to the government of India and the state government for necessary changes in the act to enable the authority to issue directives to respective agencies involved. The provisions of the Act as of now do not allow us to issue orders to the Noida authority, the Greater Noida authority or others, which hampers resolution of a particular buyer’s issue in a timely manner of 15 days or a month. However, if the government redefines powers of the authority in the Act and make necessary changes, we can issue directives and speed up the resolution of cases,” Rajive Kumar chairman of the UP Rera, said.

The UP Rera has resolved at least 4,557 cases of homebuyers out of a total of 11,550 cases filed with it since the Rera’s formation.

In March 2017, UP Rera began operations in Lucknow and the state government assured homebuyers that the Rera would soon have adequate staff, as mandated by the Rera Act of 2016.

In September, 2018 the Rera started operations in Greater Noida, replete with a bench to cater to cases of homebuyers in the district.

“However, now we are facing legal issues in solving many cases pending with us. After directive powers are provided to the UP Rera, many cases pending would be solved without further delay,” Balvinder Kumar, member of the UP Rera, said.

The real estate regulatory body has mentioned three points in its letter: First is related with providing directive powers to this authority, second is that the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission should not hear buyers’ cases.

The third is that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which hears realtors’ cases under the Indian Bankruptcy Code (IBC-2016), should not hear a case in a housing project until more than 10% buyers (out of the total number of purchased flats in a housing project) approach the Tribunal for justice.

“In multiple cases, when we are hearing homebuyers’ cases, one buyer files a petition in the NCLT and we have to stall proceedings midway, under Section 14 of IBC-2016, which delays the process of delivering justice. We have proposed that the NCLT should hear such cases only if over 10% of total homebuyers in a particular housing project file a plea in a tribunal. The reason is one or two buyers should not affect the rights of the larger group in a housing project,” Balvinder said.

Rera officials said they hope that the government looks into this issue and do the needful without delay.

In around a dozen cases, the NCLT cases have affected proceedings in Rera thereby affecting thousands of homebuyers, officials added.