MahaRERA slaps Rs 2-12 lakh fine on Puranik, 5 builders

Six developers including prominent names like Puraniks were slapped with a penalty of Rs 2 lakh to 12 lakh for violating the advertisement norms in the Real Estate Act. The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) acted on complaints made by the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat which said that the advertisements violated the Real Estate Act.

Advocate Shirish Deshpande, chairman of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat said, “There were various issues with the developers’ advertisements. For example in Puraniks’ case they had not mentioned the website of MahaRERA.

Developers put their registration number but do not mention the website where the homebuyer can check the details and use their wisdom before investing. It is mandatory as per the act to put the website address.” 

The other issues included putting up advertisements for unregistered projects, disclaimers that are too small to read and disclaimers which violated sections of the Real Estate Act. 

Developers such as Goodtimes, Lashkaria Housing, Rikki Ronie, Ashar Realtors, Sandeep Landge were asked to pay a penalty of Rs 2 lakh, while Kabra and Associates was made to pay a penalty of Rs 12 lakh. 

MahaRERA secretary, Vasant Prabhu said, “Yes, there were violations of section 11 (2) that is not mentioning RERA website and the missing disclaimer which is in violation of section 14. One builder was penalised with Rs 10 lakh for violation of section three, that is advertising without registration.”