CUTTACK; A public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to authorities for implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016 in respect of land deals under plotted schemes, was disposed of by the Orissa High Court on Wednesday.
The division bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo said, “On the basis of the pleadings in the petition, the court is not inclined to issue a general direction to the authorities to follow the statutory requirements of the RERA.” The bench observed, “The concerned authority shall make sincere endeavour to ensure that the provisions of section 3 of RERA are not violated. The court however observes that the concerned authority shall make sincere endeavour to ensure that the provisions of section 3 of RERA are not violated.”
As per section 3 of RERA, no promoter is allowed to advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale or invite persons to purchase in any manner any plot, apartment or building in any real estate project or a part of it in any planning areas without registering the project with ORERA. Plots larger than 500 square metre have to be registered with ORERA.
Pratap Kumar Rout, who had filed the PIL alleged that landowners are creating sub-plots of large patches of land without registering bigger plots with ORERA and selling them to multiple buyers. ORERA had in a counter affidavit stated that steps have been taken to ensure that the sub-registrars will abide by the statutory requirements in the matter of registration of the properties covered by the provisions of RERA/ORERA. The state Revenue and Disaster Management department had issued a circular to all district registrars for registration of real estate projects with ORERA, it was stated.