Aggrieved homebuyers across Maharashtra have filed 2,677 non-compliance applications in the past four years with MahaRERA and are still waiting for the regulatory authority to issue orders against the errant developers.
Some of the customers said in cases where the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) had issued orders in their favour, they had to repeatedly follow up with the developers and ultimately file the non-compliance applications.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act states that if the orders are not implemented, a consumer can file the non-compliance application within two months.
The list of builders failing to comply with the MahaRERA orders was on the rise and there was a need for the authority to follow up the cases with the errant developers, an affected consumer said. “If this is not done, the entire purpose of having the Act is defeated,” the consumer said.
Consumer groups said though MahaRERA claimed to have disposed of over 11,000 cases since its inception, the rules appeared to be ineffective in terms of execution of the orders by the regulatory authority. The pendency in non-execution of orders will be more than 70% as many do not file applications against the non-execution of the directives, another consumer said.
Advocate Manjunath Kakkalameli said the Act should be citizen-centric and it had to be enacted in a way that the home buyers got justice. “The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act came into force in 2016. When we look back at its effectiveness in terms of implementation, it is disappointing,” he told TOI.
“The number on the (MahaRERA) website regarding disposal of cases may look high. But the execution of cases disposed of by MahaRERA is much less than the orders passed,” he said.
A consumer who had bought a flat in a real estate project in the city had approached MahaRERA, seeking interests under Section 18 of RERA for the delayed possession. A MahaRERA bench had in February passed an order in favour of the homebuyer and directed the builder to pay interest on the amount the latter had received. However, the homebuyer said the builder was yet to comply with the order.
MahaRERA officials stated that they were hearing and clearing the maximum number of cases and also putting up details of the errant developers, with the orders against them, on its website.
Ramesh Prabhu, chairman of the Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association, said, “Passing orders and expecting citizens to re-approach the authority for non-execution of the directives is a waste of time. The Central Advisory Council meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday had raised the concern.”