BENGALURU: The state’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) on Wednesday made public a list of 780 real estate projects in the state not registered with it and has cautioned the public that they are under scrutiny.
The RERA portal (rera.Karnataka.gov.in) has highlighted this warning in bold red on its home page: “Public is hereby informed that these projects are not registered with RERA and are under INVESTIGATION. The public is warned that dealing with these projects is at their own risk as these are not registered with RERA.”
Highly placed sources told Express that these projects are clearly on their radar. “We have already sent them notices asking them to register both through post and email. They have just not bothered to respond. So, the obvious assumption is that they are guilty of some violations, forcing us to take this step of naming them in a public domain,” a source said.
RERA has sent them a final notice now and they have a maximum of three weeks to comply, failing which they will be penalised 10 per cent of the building project cost. “If this penalty is not paid, legal action will be taken, which could lead to a three-year imprisonment,” another official said.A top official clarified that RERA was not declaring them guilty. “There may be genuine reasons for non-registration by some. They need to establish that by coming to us,” he said.
The official added that the move was aimed at safeguarding the public. “For most middle-class and lower income groups, purchase of a property is a lifetime dream. We want their hard earned money to go to safe hands,” he said.The list released today also includes Cooperative Housing Societies. Many Societies in the state had sought exemption from RERA but the Bombay High Court has mandated RERA compliance for them in its verdict in December 2017.