MahaRERA Fines Godrej Properties for Promoting Project Without Registration

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Godrej Properties for putting up 30 hoardings of their new project in Thane without first registering it.

Credits : content.magicbricks.com

The authority summoned Godrej Properties for a hearing after complainant Aditya Bothra brought the discrepancy to its notice. The developer had unleashed a pre-launch marketing campaign advertising its new project without first registering it as an ongoing real estate project on the MahaRERA online portal.

Himanshu Joshi, a Godrej Properties representative, appeared before MahaRERA chairperson Gautam Chartterjee during the hearing recently and accepted that the company had put up 30 billboards at multiple locations in Mumbai and Thane for their real estate projects.

Joshi, however, argued that these billboards may not be treated as advertisements violating the law as the billboards also displayed a specific disclaimer. He said the billboards displayed a disclaimer stating that the information on the hoardings is neither an advertisement nor an offer for the sale of any real estate project within the ambit of RERA. "The developer shall launch and sell the flats/units only after obtaining permanent registration number from RERA," the disclaimer said.

After examining the evidence, Chatterjee said that such billboards could be misleading since a potential customer like Bothra had received subsequent phone calls and was allegedly told to deposit a booking amount to block flats in the project. The chairperson stressed that such promotions can also disrupt a level playing field for competitors.

During the hearing, Joshi accepted that making pre-launch announcements without obtaining MahaRERA registration number was an inadvertent error, and tendered an unconditional apology. He also said that the company would pull down all the billboards and ensure that they will not "solicit, misguide, or engage" in such pre-launch announcement in future.

Though the complainant withdrew his complaint at the subsequent hearing, Chatterjee said the Authority "cannot be oblivious" to the non-compliant behaviour of the promoter company. The registration application will be approved only after this penalty is paid, Chatterjee had said in his order dated August 27.

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Source: content.magicbricks.com