DNA Edit – Tighten the noose: Maharashtra shows the way in implementing RERA

Of all the states that have implemented the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), Maharashtra has shown the desired flexibility and ability to get ahead with the programme. This crucial Act of Parliament passed in 2016, designed to protect home-buyers as well as boost investment, has been less than enthusiastically received in some states, but Maharashtra has bucked the trend. It has now approached the Centre to amend the RERA in its efforts to get projects of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) under the purview of the state’s real estate regulator. Per se, it is a welcome move. RERA has been seen, in certain quarters, as being a little too harsh on private developers, without making similar demands on government agencies involved in mass public housing, unarguably one of the most important sectors of economic life with far-reaching political implications. The move is aimed at checking inordinate delays and facilitate hassle-free delivery of apartments to the beneficiaries of SRA and MHADA. While RERA takes a dim view of delays in private housing, it interferes much less as far as government housing is concerned. As reported in this paper, under the SRA scheme, a builder gets a free-sale component for the open market and decides to focus on it, neglecting the rehabilitation of slum dwellers. This, in turn, delays projects. It would be instructive for other states -- who have adopted the model Act and understandably tweaked it to suit their local environments -- to use this Maharashtra template for introducing similar amendments. After all, housing programmes in many states are facing inordinate delays.