By: Ravi Sinha
Track2Realty Exclusive
In the wake of the real estate community under the industry body Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), asking for only self-regulation and no government regulator, the Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath has bluntly refused to heed to any such fancy thoughts. Ridiculing the developers for their greed Kamal Nath said, “You have got into the habit of living in an era of boom, and hence anything less than boom is cried as gloom and doom.”
Talking to Track2Realty on the sidelines of CREDAI NATCON in Delhi, President Lalit Kumar Jain refused to admit that the holier-than-thou call of self regulation has failed among the real estate developers. It is noteworthy that the proposed Code of Conduct by CREDAI is being discussed among the developers for the last 4-5 years.
“We have set a deadline and all CREDAI members have been asked to sign by March 31st 2012, failing which they will lose CREDAI membership,” Jain says.
However, it is to be seen how can there be transparency and reforms without any regulatory body in place. And it is here that the government has snubbed the developers and is going ahead with the proposed Real Estate Regulator Bill.
As expected, CREDAI is crying foul and putting forward a model bill for single window clearance of realty projects and strongly advocating a comprehensive real estate regulatory regime.
Dismissing the draft regulatory bill prepared by the government as “’Public Amusement and Developers Harassment Bill”, CREDAI National President Lalit Kumar Jain said it will hamper the growth of the industry.
“The regulatory bill in its current form is nothing but Public Amusement and Developers Harassment Bill,” Jain, who is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Kumar Urban development Limited (KUL), said addressing CREDAI Conclave-2011 at New Delhi.
“The government’s regulatory bill will not only kill the enthusiasm of the builders but also prevent creative and visionary people from coming in to this business. What we need is regulation and planned development in the sector to ensure sale of immovable properties in an efficient and transparent manner,” CREDAI chief says.
Around 1,000 delegates including developers, financing institutions, professionals, representatives of stakeholder groups and distinguished individuals from across the real estate spectrum of the country and abroad participated in the event.
CREDAI has brought out a model draft for speedy approval of projects through a single-window clearance in the real estate sector and strongly advocated a comprehensive real estate regulatory regime.
Real estate developers strongly opposed ‘Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill, 2011. Jain said that the Bill is not industry-friendly. There is an array of problems faced by developers. Many-a-times even after getting initial sanction, the final approval is delayed due to change in policy by the commissioner or the CM etc. The regulator should look into such delays which are not in the hands of developers, he says.
“The Regulator should support fair practices in real estate business and should have control over all stake holder including approval authorities, the government and financial Institution. CREDAI suggests computerization in all departments to avoid corruption. There should be reservation for economically weaker section and low income group rather than struggling to make affordable homes,” Jain says.
Jain believes that if floor space index (FSI) concept is removed there will be well planned and disciplined development in the realty sector. There will not be any escalation on the property prices also.
“The real estate sector prefers to do business without pressure and with support of the Regulator. We need it to prevent fly-by- night operators to come into the business. We need it to protect customers. We do not want license Raj and allow us to do business without pressure,” he says.
Asked what are the options left for CREDAI since the government is not receptive to their ideas, Jain says the government is ignorant and developers will make enough noise to make the government understand their point of view.
Will this work? “May be not,” says Sachin Sandhir, Managing Director South Asia of RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, “since a lot needs to be done besides the lip service. But yes there is a positive intent now, and a long way to go before we call it reformed and regulated real estate in India form the consumers point of view.”
And it is here that CREDAI seems to have no answer, at least as of now.
