The State Government has issued a notification inviting applications for the post of Chairperson of the Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA). HC Kishore Chandra, a retired Director General of Police who served as the K-RERA chairperson, retired at the age of 65 last month. He had been appointed in May 2021.
As per Section 22 of the RERA Act, the candidate for the RERA Chairperson’s post should have at least 20 years of professional experience in fields such as urban development, housing, real estate development, infrastructure, economics, planning, law, commerce, accountancy, industry, management, social service, public affairs, or administration.
Home buyers are urging the state government to appoint a qualified and knowledgeable individual with integrity for the K-RERA Chairperson position. They are concerned about appointing individuals who lack expertise in real estate and construction. “The state government appointed HC Kishore Chandra as K-RERA Chairperson and former Karnataka Director General of Police Neelamani Raju as its member. Both of them are not familiar with issues related to real estate. It is not clear why the state government is rehabilitating two retired police officers. K-RERA should not become a rehabilitation centre for retired officers in the good books of the government,” said retired Naval veteran Commander Surendra.
Home buyers have complained about pending cases with K-RERA and its failure to enforce orders against builders violating norms.
Karnataka Home Buyers Forum Sanchalak Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar stated, “Home buyers in Karnataka are not getting justice under RERA because of the lack of proper directions from the RERA Chairman in the past. Complaints are not addressed on time, orders are not executed, and there is no direction on Apartment Allottees Association registration and Common Area Transfer as per Section 17 of RERA from 2017.”
Padmanabhachar emphasised that other states have implemented Section 17 and provided directions. He hopes the government will appoint a knowledgeable and experienced RERA Chairman who can effectively implement the RERA Act to benefit home buyers in Karnataka.
