Real estate industry body CREDAI on Saturday, September 3, opposed constitution of a regulatory body for the real estate sector, saying that it would become a “breeding ground for corruption” if implemented.
“The proposed regulatory bill will become a breeding ground for corruption (if implemented),” the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) President Lalit Kumar Jain told reporters in Chandigarh.
The Centre has proposed to form a regulatory body through the Real Estate Regulation Bill 2011 which seeks to protect home buyers from fly-by-night developers.
Arguing that the objective of draft regulatory bill was limited to just consumer protection, Jain sought the jurisdiction of the bill be expanded to address other pressing issues like long delay in approval, rising cost of material and labour etc, which hold utmost importance for the sector.
“Only controlling one issue (consumer protection by the regulatory bill) is not going to help unless the entire spectrum of the industry is handled by the proposed bill,” he said.
CREDAI further questioned the formation of any regulatory body on the ground that there were a number of options and mechanism like the consumer affairs department, the Competition Commission of India redress consumer grievances.
“Then what is the need for increasing the number of windows for (consumers),” asked CREDAI Vice President Getamber Anand.
The real estate sector complained that delay in getting approvals from different departments, especially environment, cause bottlenecks for projects.
“There are 48 departments attached to the real estate sector which leads to exploitation of developers…we are victims of corruption,” Anand said.
“If the time taken for (statutory) approvals for starting a project is reduced, then the sale prices of the property could come down from 10 to 25 percent in the entire country,” he said.
Jain also pointed out that the spiraling labour and material cost had also put an additional burden on the real estate players.
Meanwhile, CREDAI unveiled ‘Code of Conduct’ for the real estate sector for Punjab, aimed to bring transparency in the conduct of the business.
“The Code of Conduct not only ensures transparency in real estate deals but will also imbibe setting up of a grievances redressal cell for the people who have unsavoury experience with respective real estate companies,” he said.
Jain said if any member found to be indulged in wrong practice his membership could be terminated. He asserted that the Code of Conduct would make developers responsible towards their consumers.
