CHENNAI: With the website yet to be developed to move the registration process entirely online, the Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TNRERA) had to register more than 100 projects manually. For, the deadline for registering projects under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 ended on July 31.
While officials defended it saying there was limited time to develop the website, activists alleged this would hamper efforts to bring in transparency and would thus aid corruption. “The rules were notified recently, and it requires a lot of approval to put in place the website. We are trying to set it up in the next couple of weeks,” a top TNRERA official told Express. “We are accepting and screening applications manually. This is done after Centre asked us to register them manually,” the official said.
The manual registration is being done by former CMDA officials who are now office-bearers of the regulatory authority. The uploading of all registered applications would take time, said the official.
This glitch has incensed activists who alleged that doing it manually would keep buyers in the dark about the details of the projects being registered.
“Confusion is the first law of corruption. There is a hidden agenda,” alleged retired bureaucrat M G Deivasahayam, a member of the High Court-appointed monitoring committee of CMDA.
He also hit out at recruitment of former CMDA officials in RERA. “It is like catching the regulator. The regulator has to be independent. Now CMDA will be dictating terms to RERA; it will function as an arm of CMDA,” he said.
Planners pointed out how CMDA took control of Koyambedu perishables market and the iron and steel market which were to function independently under Marketing Management Committee as per Specific Commodities Act. However, the powers of both markets were diluted, with CMDA controlling the entire market.
A top TNRERA official defended the hiring of former CMDA officials on grounds of expertise, which Deivasahayam dismissed outright.
Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India president Suresh Krishn said most of the developers had submitted the applications manually as the website faced technical glitches.
Outcomes of the Act
Real Estate Act, 2016 was notified only on June 22
State government failed to act until the Centre ticked the officials off to carry out registration manually in July
As a result, the authority starts manually registering projects
Website created only a week later and it failed to function properly after housing secretary set deadline to July 31 sparking protests from developers