RERA Act can be imposed even if projects not registered, real estate developers warned

Non-registration of a real estate project does not mean it is beyond the purview of the RERA Act, Shri Anthony De Sa, Chairman, the Madhya Pradesh RERA Authority warned real estate developers.

Speaking at a special session on Urban Housing and RERA Implementation,  at the recently concluded 6th National Conference of RAWs (NCRWA), Shri De Sa, who is the first Chairman of any RERA Authority to be appointed in the country, said the authority in Madhya Pradesh had taken a view quite different from RERA Authorities in some of the other states and held that it was not compulsory for developers to register their proejcts.  However, the Authority reserves its right to prosecute developers if any of the other rules under the RERA Act were flouted, he warned. 

Furthermore, any attempts by to dilute the RERA rules by anybody, including state governments, would not work as citizens were free to approach the tribunals to seek legal redress as the law is very clear that any changes to rules cannot amend the Act itself, added the country’s first appoint RERA Chairman.

Highlighting on some of the lacunae in the current RERA system, Shri De Sa observed that while the implementation of any new Act would have teething problems, with regard to RERA there have been many issues over the past two years. One major concern was that implementation of any penalties or punishments at the behest of the Authority or the Appellate Tribunals, is the preserve of the District Collectors. This leads to inordinate delays given the work load that District Collectors have. Therefore an amendment to the RERA Act was needed to provide powers to RERA Authorities to execute judgments just like Consumer Courts, he added. "Otherwise RERA will remain a tooth-less tiger”, Mr De Sa added.

“RWAs are the backbone for the implementation of RERA,” said Justice B Rajendran, Chairman Tamil Nadu RERA Appellate Tribunal, delivering the keynote address at the session.

Agreeing with Shri Anthony De Sa that implementation of a new act is very difficult, Justice Rajendran observed there were many projects that were not registered in Tamil Nadu. But the Authority suo moto sent notices to the local authorities stating that at least 1000 project developers were not permitted to sell their units as they maintained they were private and did not require to be registered. This brought them to book, he shared.

Therefore, the belief that the Act does not apply if the project is not registered is a myth, he said.