BENGALURU: In a shocking reflection of the callousness with which builders are treating orders issued by the Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) court, it has come to light that they have paid only a miniscule amount of the penalty levied on them. A sum of just Rs 6.87 lakh has been paid by promoters, of Rs 245.72 crore levied.
Statistics furnished by K-RERA up to August 31 reveal that the court delivered its verdict on 595 cases, pertaining to 120 builders. Only 14 cases have been closed with penalty amount paid, while a shocking 581 cases are yet to be closed. The authority was set up in Karnataka in May 2017.
State RERA Chairman H C Kishore Chandra told TNSE, “We can only issue orders. We don’t have execution powers, which lie only with Deputy Commissioners. They need to pursue the cases and take action.” The maximum number of pending cases is in Bengaluru Urban, with penalty not yet collected in 569 cases. Mysuru and Dakshina Kannada have four cases each, Bengaluru Urban two and Udupi and Dharwad have one each.
Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath said the administration was taking steps to recover the money from builders. “They are being pursued. The pandemic was also a reason why penalties could not be recovered. There were a few execution problems too,” he said. Citing one example, Manjunath said the original builder who was responsible for violations had handed over the project to other parties. “The project is now dealt with by someone else. Such issues are proving a bit tough,” he added.
Meanwhile, complaints against promoters continue to pile up at the RERA office, with 6,113 complaints from home buyers, of which 2,987 have been redressed. The complaints yet to be redressed are higher, at 3,126. As on date, a total of 5,305 projects have applied for approval by RERA. “Of them, 4,312 have been approved, 573 are under process and 259 have been rejected. The rejections are mainly because the right documents have not been furnished,” Chandra said. In all, 32 builders have withdrawn their applications.