NEW DELHI: Taking note of the delay in implementation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) mechanism and the issue of non-compliance with orders passed by regulatory authorities, the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday cautioned states which are lagging behind.
“All of us need to make sure that the entire decision-making is fair, objective and it delivers justice. And it seems to be doing that. So if there’s any faultline or potential conflict of interest in our own functioning, I would say let’s correct it. I am aware of work being done in Maharashtra, Gujarat and in other states.
Some states are notoriously slow in implementing policy. I don’t think that it is just a workload with the district magistrates. I will deal with that politically. Something, we will do,” said Puri. He was speaking during the fourth meeting of the Central Advisory Council constituted under RERA which is chaired by him. Besides senior officials of the ministries and states, representatives of the associations of homebuyers and developers also attended the meeting.
The participants deliberated over the various issues related to the implementation of RERA, non-compliance with RERA orders, the issue of legacy-stalled projects, and the safety of construction workers.
Puri said that if required, the ministry would write to the chief secretaries of states and UTs so that RERA orders are implemented.
“Other states have to be brought on board. One state, in particular, is West Bengal. We need to renew and reinforce our efforts so that states come on board,” he said. As on May 1, 32 states and UTs have established regulatory authorities and 28 of them have also set up appellate tribunals. However, West Bengal and Telangana are still to fully implement RERA.
“RERA can take decision but the implementation finally comes down to the level of DMs or collectors….the fact of the matter is, the DMs take up these issues along with the other work that is assigned to them but the good news is that we are pushing. Yesterday, I had a review meeting with the secretary (MoHUA),” Puri said.
Various issues related to the implementation of RERA, issues of non-compliance of orders passed by regulatory authorities, concerns related to the safety of construction workers, issues of legacy stalled projects, issues of dilution of provisions of RERA and awareness drive for RERA were deliberated.