Orissa High Court asks State govt to expedite RERA compliant rules
CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Tuesday was informed that the State government is preparing a new Odisha Apartment Ownership Management Bill. The court was hearing a PIL that had challenged the validity of Odisha Apartment Ownership (Amendment) Rules 2021.
State counsel DK Mohanty stated before the court that the Bill is being prepared in consultation with the stakeholders. It will be eventually be tabled in the State Assembly. Bimalendu Pradhan, a Bhubaneswar-based apartment owner filed the petition challenging it on the ground that it is contrary to provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) - RERA Act, 2016.
The RERA Act, 2016 mandates transfer of common areas in favour of the Association of Apartment Owners. In an interim order the court had clamped a ban on registration of sale deeds related to apartments and flats on May 12.
The embargo was imposed after it was brought to its attention that sale deeds conveying common areas to the individual owners of apartments were getting registered by the builders on daily basis in violation of the RERA Act, 2016. The court had directed the state government to come up with a RERA-compliant rule. Subsequently, the Inspector General of Registration (IGR) had issued an instruction to all the registering officers in the State that they should refuse to register any instrument which is contrary to the RERA Act.
The State counsel also informed the court that Urban Development and Housing department had on September 12 notified the Odisha Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Amendment Rules 2022. A model format of a sale deed will be notified to enable execution of sale deeds in the format consistent with the notified amended rules.However, indicating that the interim order will continue, the division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Chittaranjan Dash said, “Any ad hoc temporary solution to the problems faced by the apartment owners will only compound their difficulties.”