CHENNAI: Developers and builders in the State are looking for legal remedy after the Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TNRERA) warned them to register their projects before July 31 or face penal action under the provisions of Section 59 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.
According to a statement from the TNRERA, the projects that are ongoing on the date of commencement of the Act from May 1, 2017, for which completion certificate has not been issued will have to apply for registration before July 31.
Though the Act was notified on June 22, the State government failed to implement it till the Centre pushed it to do so. As a result, the authority started to manually register the projects since July 6. A website was created a week later. Many of the developers are yet to get familiarised with the new website.
Former national president of the Builders’ Association of India R Radhakrishnan said he would approach the court against the TNRERA order, as it is too short a time to register the projects.
“It is July 27 already and we also have a Sunday. How can we register all projects by July 31? We will submit a representation to the government and if the government fails to intervene, we have no option but to seek the intervention of the courts,” said Radhakrishnan.
Though the move has sparked anger among developers, who also find themselves helpless in directly questioning the move by the Housing Secretary who is the interim head.
“They have just given 15 days’ time since the website was created. There is little time to understand the nuances of the website and there has been no familiarisation exercise,” said another developer.
“They should be giving at least three months time from the date of notification as prescribed under the Act, which was to be implemented by May 1,” another developer added.
Interestingly, the sudden move by the Housing Secretary, who is the interim head of TNRERA, has sparked confusion among the developers. “It is time the Centre intervened in the matter,” said Radhakrishnan.