The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has, over the past four years, issued recovery warrants worth Rs 633 crore against errant developers, with Mumbai’s suburbs accounting for the highest value. The action, taken in coordination with 13 collectorates, including those in Mumbai and Pune, involved 717 such warrants to expedite refunds to flat purchasers.
Mumbai suburban area led the pack with 302 such recoveries, followed by Pune (162) and Thane (99). The warrants were issued in relation to 256 projects, of which 83 are in Pune, followed by 63 in Mumbai suburban and 41 in Thane. The other collectorates involved include Raigad, Alibaug, Palghar, Mumbai city, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nashik, Sindhudurg and Satara.
As per sources, MahaRERA chairman Ajoy Mehta has initiated talks with the revenue secretary and collectors of districts to execute the orders as early as possible to help homebuyers retrieve their investments. MahaRERA’s adjudicating officers issue the recovery warrants against the errant developers under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act. They are forwarded to the collectors for attachment of properties and recovery of dues.
MahaRERA secretary Vasant Prabhu said he would put up the list with details of recovery warrants on the MahaRERA website and the collectors have been communicated about the execution of the warrants. The recovery process involves the collector issuing an attachment certificate, following which the property is attached, and the developer is given a chance to repay the amount. If he fails to do so, the auction process follows. But activists say orders are mostly on paper with no one to execute them or do a follow-up, leaving citizens scrambling.
One flat-buyer said he has been waiting for the order to be implemented for the last three years, but to no avail. “We reached out to the officials several times, but they were busy with the Covid-19 work,” he said. Chairman of Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association Ramesh Prabhu said once MahaRERA issued a recovery warrant order and it is not complied by the respondent/promoters, allottees can file a petition on non-execution of the order. “Buyer may want to exit a project and invest elsewhere. These orders have to be executed to build confidence in citizens,” Prabhu said.
