Ex-CEO Niti Ayog Amitabh Kant to head committee to look into stalled real estate projects

NEW DELHI:  The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has set up a 14-member committee headed by former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant to examine issues related to stalled real estate projects and recommend various ways for their completion.

The panel will deliberate on the issues of legacy stalled projects and suggest ways to complete and hand over these projects to homebuyers in a time-bound manner, the order states.

The panel has been set up nearly a year after it was decided by the Central Advisory Council (CAC) headed by the Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

According to the mandate, the Committee will submit a report within six months from the date of its first meeting.

The third meeting of the CAC was constituted under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) held in April 2022 to deliberate issues related to the implementation of RERA in states and union territories (UTs).

The Council took several decisions to protect the interest of the homebuyers.  It was also decided to set up a sub-committee under the Council to look into grievances and issues concerning the stakeholders including homebuyers.

It was resolved to conduct Council meeting at least once in a year and Sub-group consisting of concerned stakeholders to meet once in six months under the chairmanship of the secretary, MoHUA.

Regarding the issue of structural safety of projects, the Council decided that the development authorities might ask for a structural safety certificate from the site engineer and promoter at the time of applying for a completion certificate.

Amitabh Kant has been appointed as the chairman of the panel with senior Government officials, and heads of RERA from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana as its members.

The secretary of department of finance services (ministry of finance), secretary, ministry of corporate affairs and additional secretary (housing), the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), the other members of the Committee are principal secretary (housing and urban planning department), Uttar Pradesh, additional chief secretary (urban local bodies, town and country planning department), Haryana, chairperson of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), managing director, National Housing Bank (NHB), CEO, Noida, MS Sahoo, professor, National Law University (NLU), and chief investment officer of SWAMIH Investment Fund I.   

The panel has been given the authority to appoint more members if needed.