HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the Chief Secretary and Municipal Administration development, Principal Secretary, to respond within four weeks to a PIL seeking directions to the Telangana Government to appoint a chairperson and members to the Real Estate Regulatory Authority and Appellate Tribunal (RERA) as per the provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili heard the PIL filed by Forum for Good Governance, an NGO represented by M Padmanabha Reddy. The petitioner contended that the RERA Act, 2016 mandates State governments to appoint the Chairperson and members to the tribunal. Contrary to this, the Telangana government has made an ad-hoc arrangement by appointing an IAS officer.
RERA is a step towards reforming the real estate sector and encourages greater transparency and accountability, it helps in regulation and promotion of the real estate sector and ensures sale of plots, apartments or buildings in a transparent manner and protects the interest of the purchaser, the petitioner said. After hearing the contentions of the petitioner, the bench issued notices to the State government.