State govt cracks down on properties in violation of RERA in Pune

The state government has set up a probe committee to investigate scores of bogus property registrations in violation of the Real Estate Regulation and Development (RERA) Act, 2016.

The government received many complaints in this regard especially that of 1,000 such bogus registrations at the sub registrar office, Hadapsar on a single day.

The government in a recently issued government resolution (GR) ordered the inspector general of registration and stamps (IGR) to constitute a squad to investigate the complaint made before the state.

The IGR will submit the report to the state government by December 1, 2020. The squad comprises of deputy inspector general of registration Govind Karad, acting DIG (headquarters) Bharat Garud, joint district registrar of stamps Vijay Bhalerao and joint district registrar Udayraj Chavan.

According to the information available, a number of complaints were related to the registrar office (Haveli No 3) in Magarpatta-Hadapsar where scores of documents were registered in complete violation of the RERA act.

The complaint points out that all the norms related to the registration were violated in areas like Hadpsar, Baner and PMRDA regions and even gunthewari lands located in grampanchayat areas were registered.

Maharashtra inspector general of registration and stamps Omprakash Deshmukh said, “A special investigation squad has been formed to investigate the complaints made to the government and a report will be submitted to the state government by me before December 1st. We will find out how many such types of registrations have been done and a detailed inquiry will be done on each of the registered documents. We are going to investigate it as per the rule number of 44 and if the registration is prohibited by law, action will be initiated. I will give my opinion and recommendations on the inquiry report before it is submitted to the government. The inquiry will reveal the exact nature of the violation of the RERA norms.”

Real Estate Regulation and Development (RERA) Act, 2016 is regarded as one of the landmark legislation passed by the Government of India. The aim of this act is a reformation of the real estate sector in India, encouraging transparency, accountability, and financial discipline.

Penalties for non-compliance

The Real Estate (Regulatory and Development) Act, 2016 is the first in the real estate sector that provides for rules and regulations. This Act specifies the detailed rules and regulation for the proper process of registration and maintaining transparency, the Act also prescribes the penalty for different kinds of offences. Under penalties for non-compliance with the Act, RERA 2016 recommends imprisonment for a term which can be extended up to three years or a fine which may extend up to 10 per cent of the cost estimated of the real estate project, or both.