BHUBANESWAR: Expressing serious concern over unchecked constructions in urban areas, the Odisha Real Estate Regulatory Authority (ORERA) has asked the state government to prevent sale and registration of plots in projects taken up without registration and layout approval.
The ORERA, in its communique sent earlier this week, has sought urgent measures from the Revenue department and Inspector General of Registration (IGR). It has also asked the authorities to prevent sub-registrars from allowing registration of such plots in violation of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) norms, sources in the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department said.
They said the real estate regulatory body has approached the government following reports of registration of a large number of such plots in plotting schemes where sale and registration of sub-plots have taken place without the project being registered with ORERA and without obtaining layout approval from the development authority concerned. In one such project, ORERA recently imposed `2 crore penalty on a realtor for allegedly carrying out a plotting scheme without getting layout approval from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority or ORERA registration.
In the plotting scheme at Haridamada on the outskirts of the capital city, the realtor was reportedly carrying out plotting business worth `550 crore in about 120 acre land. The ORERA technical team also found that the mega project involving 2,500 plots of different sizes has already sold about 30 per cent of the plots.
Apart from this project, ORERA also found similar irregularities in multiple other plotting projects. “The authority has even found that sub-registrars are facilitating registration of sub-plots in such plotting projects in spite of the fact that registration and layout approval should be obtained from ORERA and development authorities to take up plotting projects where the total area exceeds 500 square metre,” the officer said.
Sources said the ORERA has sought appropriate action from the Revenue department and IGR in the matter to prevent such unchecked plotting projects that not only hamper buyers interest but also lead to unregulated and unplanned development in urban areas. The buyers should also remain cautious in this regard and verify the layout approval and ORERA registration before proceeding with investment in any scheme, an official from ORERA said.
Such irregularities can also be brought up before ORERA for investigation through its helpline, he added.