Many civil servants in race for UP RERA chief’s post

Of the 13 aspirants for the RERA chief, there are 7 senior IAS officers, two judicial and IPS officers each and one IRS AN OFFICER

The race for chairman of UP Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has heated up with several top civil servants, members of the judiciary and senior police officers in the fray for the plum job.

Housing department sources said over a dozen senior IAS and IPS officers had thrown their hat into the ring for the prestigious assignment. Another three dozen aspirants have applied for the member’s post on the panel.

“We have received 13 applications for chairman and 37 for the post of members by May 31, the deadline,” confirmed a senior official. The real estate rules came into force on May 1 all over the country. But UP is yet to set up a full-fledged authority.

“We have been given time till July-end to put in place the requisite infrastructure and staff to implement RERA in UP,” said the officer.

The new rules drafted by the Yogi government, dropping clauses that were diluted by the previous SP government to keep majority of projects out of the ambit of the real estate regulator, are also yet to get the state cabinet’s nod.

Putting out a public notice to select the chairman and members, the government has asked the principal secretary, housing, to act as the interim chief of RERA. The selection process was started under the SP government but stalled after the selection committee sought more details from the applicants, including former chief secretary Alok Ranjan and several senior and retired bureaucrats. The list of new contenders includes principal secretaries Raj Pratap Singh, Veeresh Kumar, Arun Sinha and Rangnath Pandey.

“Claims of those who had applied under the previous process will also be considered along with fresh applications for appointment when the selection committee takes a call,” he said. Prominent among those who had applied earlier included Dr Prabhat Kumar (front runner for the job), former DGP A L Banerjee, former housing secretary Shankar Agarwal and senior state official Aradhana Johri. Many of these officers have applied for the member’s posts also.

With emoluments and perks equivalent to that of a chief secretary, candidates from the private sector for the post of chairman were required to have at least 20 years’ experience in urban development, housing, real estate development, infrastructure and economics. In case of a government employee, the applicant should have served as additional secretary at the Centre or on equivalent post in the state government.