November 22, 2017

 

Mumbai : Faced with litigation, the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has informed the Bombay high court that it has rolled back a May 2017 order that had the effect of holding a housing society or plot owner responsible for violations or irregularities committed by the developer under the new housing regulation law.

In an affidavit filed before the division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Rajesh Ketkar, MahaRERA secretary said that the order had been withdrawn “in order not to disturb the various steps that are already taken by all stakeholders and the statutory authority...so as to dispel various apprehensions expressed by the petitioners”.

The court was hearing a petition filed by owners of a three-acre plot on the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road, Mulund (W) challenging the May order. In the order, MahaRERA had gone on to define the term “co-promoter” under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act to mean plot owners and organizations which have signed a development agreement with the builder. Such entities had to register under RERA as co-promoters and were to be liable for defaults committed by the builder. Advocates Girish Kulkarni and Vishwajeet Kapse, counsel for the petitioners, had argued that the authority was not empowered to coin a new definition of “promoter” and notify it in absence of provisions under RERA. “MahaRERA is not empowered to interpret the provisions of a central law in defining the term co-promoter. Such a definition would add to confusion, which is not permissible,” the lawyers had said. In an earlier affidavit filed in August, MahaRERA had justified the order claiming that it was done in order to clarify the provisions and “to bring about more transparency in the process of registration, ease of maintenance of accounts...”.

When the matter came up for hearing on November 14, advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni placed on record the new affidavit in which MahaRERA said it had decided to withdraw its order.

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Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com