Over thousand projects related to housing are feared to slip into limbo because of not getting registered with Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) that came up under the statute already in place. Despite the State Government extending time limit for registering with the authority, applications for only 493 projects came till August 31.
Reports coming in suggest that hosts of real estate developers have not turned up for registration and even unwilling to do so apprehending that the regulations under the RERA are set to cover even those projects that have already been completed besides the ongoing ones. Confirming the tendency, Urban Development Minister CP Singh said that the Department would call a meeting of all parties soon to look for a solution.
“I have come across several builders here in Ranchi as well from Dhanbad and Jamshedpur. They are worried that if the rules are going to cover completed projects also, then it would be detrimental for them. They want the Government to relax the norm and few others like Telangana and few other States have done. I have told officials to convene a meeting of all the stakeholders, representatives of builders and hear them out to reach to an amicable solution,” said the Minister on Friday.
On the other, the State Government has not been able to build the website for ‘Jharkhand RERA’ for the ease of builders who struggled a lot in getting their application submitted for registration. Following the deadline extended for a month which ended on August 31, nearly 120 applications came at the counter set up for this purpose on the last day.
“The proposals for only ongoing projects have come for registration. There are lots of other projects which were completed and ready to be sold. Registry of such flats has been stopped and the projects would be declared illegal since their credentials as per the guidelines of RERA have not been verified,” said Gajanan Ram, Town Planner with the Urban Development Department.
“We have received lots of applications from the builders on the last day. Now, all the valid applications would be cleared for registration after scrutiny in a month time. The builders may also be asked to supplement any other document, if required,” said an official of the Department.
He also made it clear that any building being built by violating the guidelines set would be raided and sealed. “The Department would set up a task force to make sure that all the rules and regulations are followed. There is a provision of fine up to 10 per cent of the project cost for making any violation. Once we are done with the registration process of the valid proposals, a list of illegal projects may come up as well,” said the official.
The Town Planner though could not answer about the delay causing in launching the website for RERA but said that once it is done, home buyers would get a sigh of relief. “This is in the interest of the consumers who often get cheated by fraud builders. The website would be having a list of qualified projects to choose from. If a particular housing project is not in the list, then buying a flat or plot there would not be covered under the RERA safeguards,” he said.
All the legitimate housing projects would be issued with a registration number within a month following that registry of flats along with other formalities can take place.