Govt move to extend deadline draws flak

Even as a group of Noida homebuyers have challenged the Uttar Pradesh RERA rules in the Allahabad high court saying that the provisions have been diluted, the regulator has given developers another extension to get their projects registered.

The initial July 31 deadline for registration of builders was extended by the UP government for a month, and on August 1, for a period of two months till September 30 with graded penalty clauses.

Adopting what he termed was a “just viewpoint”, principal secretary, housing, and officiating chairman of UP RERA Mukul Singhal has again granted time to developers, albeit with a penalty, to register their projects before December 31.

Under the revised rules, developers who register till October 31 will have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 only but those who apply for registration from November 1-30 and December 1-31 will be required to pay 5% and 10% of the project cost, respectively, as fine.

Homebuyers are not happy over the extra time given to developers. “Many states have extended registration deadline to cover for their failure to appoint authorities within the timeframe given under the Act. The extension granted for such registration by state governments is clear violation of Section 3(1) of the Act. This is because the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) is a central legislation passed by the parliament and no state government is empowered to tinker with its provisions,” said Rehan Khan, a resident of Rohtas Plumeria apartments in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.

“It’s like stabbing the buyers in their back once again,” said Manu Mathur, who along with several other allottees lodged a complaint against the Ansals in Lucknow.

Indresh Gupta of Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA), which has moved the Allahabad high court alleging that UPRERA rules have been diluted to favour builders, said: “We are where we were before RERA was introduced.” Homebuyers are demanding that UPRERA should adopt the Central RERA Act in letter and spirit.

Legal experts point out that while there is no provision under RERA that allows states to extend the registration deadline, Section 59 of the Act states that if any promoter contravenes the provisions of Section 3, he shall be liable to a penalty which may extend up to 10 per cent of the estimated cost of the real estate project as determined by the Authority.

This can be interpreted to mean that the penalty can be imposed up to 10 per cent but states have the discretion not to impose any penalty up to a certain period.

Singhal’s two-page order, however, cites the Allahabad high court ruling revoking the penalty imposed by UPRERA on a realty firm for the delay in registering the ongoing projects to justify the extension. UPRERA had ordered a penalty of 1 per cent of the project cost on Unitech Ltd. The firm challenged the order in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court and said the company tried to make the payment but it was not processed due to technical snag in UPRERA website.

The court asked the regulator to revoke the penalty on Unitech for late registration.