CREDAI
Chennai real estate has suffered a major jolt as three of its leading builders, DLF, Hirco and Hiranandani, have been removed from the builders’ body, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI). Yet another major builder, Vijay Shanthi, has opted out of CREDAI membership on its own. Trouble is brewing in CREDAI’s Karnataka unit too, where four builders have been expelled.
CREDAI National President Lalit Kumar Jain said the expulsions were owing to the builders’ stiff resistance to sign the organisation’s ethical code of conduct, mandatory for all the 8,600 members spread across 105 cities in 22 states. As on date, apart from Chennai and Karnataka, Nasik is the only other city where all members of CREDAI are signatories to the code. “Based on requests from other state chapters, their members have been given time until June 30 to sign the document,” said Jain.
The revolt, however,has left adent on the organisation’s ongoing mission to create greater transparency in the housing industry as the expelled members are promoters of mega projects including three integrated townships and an IT SEZ in Chennai and its outskirts. Those expelled will not be able to participate in Fairpro, the annual property fair organised by CREDAI, which is a big crowd puller in the city.
“A code of conduct for the builder community was first mooted by the Chennai chapter of CREDAI two years ago. It gained momentum last year when CREDAI national decided to implement it across the country,” said T Chitty Babu, CREDAI secretary. Once a builder signs the code of conduct, the customers enjoy the right to drag him to the grievance redressal forum of CREDAI in case of disputes, he said.
V Suresh, Principal Executive Officer, Hirco, said his company had reservations about continuing in CREDAI. “We are part of a national body and an international body – CII India and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, UK respectively. We follow best practices in real estate sector and are in sync with all statutory requirements. Being a pan-India player, we follow uniform norms and do not want to change our practices to suit a trade organisation’s code of conduct.”
A senior executive in the DLF expressed similar concerns. “Even without signing the CREDAI code of conduct, we have been following best practices in the industry.” However, Suresh Kumar Jain, MD of Vijay Shanthi, has issues with CREDAI on the clauses in the ethical code. “Our panel of lawyers objected to signing the code of conduct,” he said, but refused to elaborate further.
Hiranandani sought more time to react to the developments. A Chennai-based builder, however, felt that CREDAI has not been firm against its members who violate building norms. “Some builders have been booked by police for landrelated frauds. What action has CREDAI taken against them.”
