The Real Estate Regulatory Authority of Uttar Pradesh (UP-Rera) on Monday has come out with ‘Progress Report 2020’ that contains details of new initiatives, its achievements and the status of ongoing housing projects. The regulatory authority has put up the progress report on its website so that homebuyers both existing and new can use the report to make informed choices.
However, homebuyers were sceptical and said the UP-Rera has not gotten the status of ongoing housing projects verified by an independent agency before publishing the details in the 60-page progress report.
In the progress report, UP-Rera also claimed as its achievements in past one year the introduction of e-courts in the wake of Covid 19 pandemic; development of a mobile application for site inspections of housing projects; virtual workshops’ dispute resolution via conciliatory forums’ and awareness workshops on buyers’ rights.
But not all buyers are happy with the report. “If the information provided by the promoter is not factually correct, then how can it benefit existing or new homebuyer? We have observed that many promoters give wrong information about the status of the project thereby misleading buyers. We are writing to UP-Rera to remove the unverified housing project details immediately as these will only confuse buyers,” Manish Kumar, vice-president, Noida Extension Flat Owners’ Welfare Association, said.
The UP-Rera said there are a total of 2,800 housing projects registered across Uttar Pradesh of which at least 50% belong to the eight districts of the National Capital Region, falling in Western UP.
The UP-Rera publishes this progress report annually to spread awareness about its initiatives so that buyers can be empowered and use the law if and when the need arises, said UP-Rera officials.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, had come into force on May 1, 2016 putting in place institutional infrastructure to protect consumers’ interests and promote the growth of the realty sector in India.
“The UP-Rera is trying to protect the interests of buyers and are taking decisions on cases in relatively lesser time as compared to other courts. But the problem is that action on UP-Rera’s orders, particularly with regard to recovery of refunds from developers, are not happening as they should,” said Sachin Sharma, a homebuyer.
The UP-Rera chairman Rajive Kumar said they will take action against promoters if they are found to have given wrong information about the status of projects.
“We have had many achievements in past one year when it comes to addressing homebuyers’ grievances and helping the sector grow. We conduct inspections on site and verify the information given by a promoter. But we have not inspected all sites of all projects. We believe that the promoters give correct information about their projects so that homebuyers can make use of the same. But if any promoter gives wrong information, then there are provisions to act against them as per the law. As far as the issue of compliance is concerned, particularly on the matter of refunds, we are working on that and it will be dealt with,” he said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
