Most often, the home buyers complain that a large section of builders in the State flout the guidelines of the Odisha Real Estate Regulatory Authority (ORERA) and rarely honour the verdicts of the ORERA Appellate Tribunal.
As a result, the innocent home buyers are not only the victims of litigations but also are incurring huge cost towards legal expenses and interest on home loans that are often considered unwanted by the real estate and legal experts.
Both the home buyers and the builders are grossly worried to protect their own interest and the Government acts as a mute spectator.
The very purpose of forming the Odisha Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (OREAT) formed by the Government last year to give relief to the home buyers who are often cheated and exploited by some builders/developers is yet to function by the Housing Urban Development Department in the State. Similarly, the Odisha Real Estate Authority too is reportedly headless to which the State Government has paid deaf ears. This is a clear indication of the apathy of the Government, said one of the prospective home buyers of the city.
On the one hand, the statutory bodies created for providing relief to the victims become defunct while on the other hand, the government has hardly any interest to appoint a full time Chairman of ORERA in place of Amiya Mahapatro who reportedly relinquished from the post in May 11 this year. The delay in appointment of a Chairman deprives the innocent home buyers of getting justice in time, said the former Ganjam district BJP president and senior BJP leader KC Pati.
According to a RERA advocate who did not wish to be identified, due to non-functioning of the Odisha Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (OREAT), the fate of several cases have been adversely affected increasing the agony of the home buyers further.
However, taking the advantage of the such situation (non-functioning of the tribunal), many builders have obtained stay order from the HC for which the agony of the home-buyers further get escalated as they become victim of cross fire and remain in a state of uncertainty, said Bharatiya Bikash Parishad president Surendra Panigrahi.
There is a public perception in the State that, a majority of crucial decisions that were adjudged by the Odisha Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (OREAT) in favour of the innocent home buyers in the past are reportedly being dishonored by some builders and developers in the State, thereby forcing the home buyers to go for appeal in the HC resulting in huge litigation costs in addition to the loss already sustained by them in terms huge interest.
According to a RERA activist, even the tribunal doesn’t have a permanent office to function.
It can be recalled here that, acting on the direction of Orissa High Court, the tribunal had been formed on February 2, 2019. But the very purpose of formation of such an important statutory/judiciary body seems to have gone awry.