The state government has already approved the Act, but chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has been sitting on the guidelines for the last two years. In the meantime, the Centre approved its Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill-2013 and asked the state government to implement the Act as soon as possible.
The Housing Regulatory Authority (HRA) will be brought into effect within the next two months, state housing minister Prakash Mehta said on Tuesday. The announcement has followed a recent dna report, which stated that the state government seemed to be succumbing to the pressure of developers' lobby on the HRA issue. The authority is expected to regulate the housing sector and protect the buyers' interests.
Insisting that they were committed to resolve the housing sector's issues, Mehta said, "We had appointed a committee under former state secretary Gautam Chatterjee. That panel prepared the rules and guidelines for the functioning of the HRA. The process is on and the HRA will be operational soon."
He further said that under the Centre-approved Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill-2013, there was a provision to form an ad-hoc authority, but they avoided doing so. "We deliberately avoided forming an ad-hoc HRA. Now there will be a permanent body to regulate the sector and resolve the buyers' issues. Once this process is over, developers can register with the authority, which will track the projects' development. Buyers will be able to see all details in black and white. This process will bring in transparency," added the minister.
The state government has already approved the Act, but chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has been sitting on the guidelines for the last two years. In the meantime, the Centre approved its Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill-2013 and asked the state government to implement the Act as soon as possible.
"Initially, we were confused whether to implement the state or the Central Act. The Centre then asked us to implement their Act, but after making it suitable for the state, and so we started the process. This authority will be a game-changer in the housing sector. Currently, there is no control on the real estate sector. So unscrupulous developers keep on exploiting buyers in some way or the other. This Act will curb all malpractices," said a government official.
Developers, on the other hand, don't seem too happy with the Act. "The government only wants to trouble the developers and recover various taxes. They do not give any security to us. Sometimes our project are mired in financial trouble. Due to all this, developers are now committing suicide," said a developer, on the condition of anonymity.
He added that the government was simply bringing in the colonial Licence Raj, but isn a different form, to exploit the developers.
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