RERA is yet again under the scanner after the Supreme Court of India questioned whether it is a rehabilitation center of ex bureaucrats. The functioning and performance of RERA, or rather lack of it, has been challenged at each and every level in now nearly 8 years of its existence. A Track2Realty report.
Wait! I am not giving any opinion. My opinion is already there in the public domain. Now the Apex Court in the country, the Supreme Court of India is saying so. I have always maintained that the very purpose of RERA was defeated when the ex-Bureaucrats were made the Chairman and members.
All sitting RERA Chairpersons, excluding Telangana, are ex IAS, IPS or IFS officers
I have always pointed out the problem with ex-bureaucrats:
Being Yes Men to political class, who are anyways catalyst to black money in the sector. They have a certain way of functioning where they always look up to what powers-to-be want them to do.
Secondly, many of these ex-bureaucrats had extremely poor track record when they served in various town planning departments and development authorities.
Now, a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Ujjwal Bhuyan categorically pointed this out, while hearing appeal against a Delhi HC order said.
RERA Act says that people with at least 20 years’ experience in the fields, including, urban development, housing, real estate, infrastructure, law, planning, accountancy, public affairs or administration are eligible to be Chairman. This eligibility is 15 years to be a RERA member in similar specified fields.
Chairpersons and members are appointed by the States on the recommendations of a select committee of the Chief Justice of the High Court or his nominee, secretaries of housing and the law departments of the respective states
The question is whether this remark of Supreme Court change anything? Or it will only be for academic discussions of those who are fed up with RERA, for delay in judgments or its orders not being executed?
Ex bureaucrats, especially those having previous stints in various development authorities, were earlier clearing the files of the developers. Many of them are having personal friendship. Isn’t it a case of conflict of interest?
I am privy to family functions of some of the RERA members, where builders with BIG gift packets attended those functions. A case of Quid Pro Quo is quite evident. But I can’t reveal any names here, since I don’t have evidence to support it. Only evidence could have been a sting, that I never do as a matter of principle when invited anywhere on a personal level.
There have been instances where the officiating RERA member has verbally said one thing in the judgment, but the copy of the judgment was something very different. One can only wonder whether that was due to lack of legal knowledge or something else.
One RERA Chief was quoted in the media that RERA will only take up the case when a formal complaint is lodged against the builder, and suo moto cognizance is beyond the purview of RERA. But RERA Act clearly gives them powers of suo moto.
One RERA Chairman was found blasting home buyers asking for compensation. “You want a house and also compensation? If builder gives you money, how will he complete the project,” he questioned while hearing delay compensation case.
In an RTI asking whether RERA members have any legal training, the answer was there is no such information available. We all know what that means.
RERA nearing 8 years of completion is still work in progress. It is high time some structural reforms with RERA is done to bring about any structural reforms in the way Indian real estate is functioning. Even when RERA order is well intentioned, it hardly gets executed by the district administration.
It is no wonder that for an average aggrieved buyer, who is legally aware, consumer courts continue to be far better option.
Ravi Sinha
Twitter: RaviTrack2Media
Ravi Sinha is a journalist with over two decades of cross-discipline media exposure. He is the CEO of real estate thinktank group Track2Realty. He has been writing extensively on the real estate sector for more than a decade now. Evaluation of real estate brand performance is his core domain expertise and he has immense insight into consumers’ psychograph. He has conceptualised Track2Realty BrandXReport as India’s 1st & only objective & non-paid brand rating journal that is industry-accepted benchmark of brand equity & ranking of the Indian real estate companies.
Track2Realty is an independent media group managed by a consortium of journalists. Starting as the first e-newspaper in the Indian real estate sector in 2011, the group has today evolved as a think-tank on the sector with specialized research reports and rating & ranking. We are editorially independent and free from commercial bias and/or influenced by investors or shareholders. Our editorial team has no clash of interest in practicing high quality journalism that is free, frank & fearless.
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