MahaRERA to hold hearings from Nagpur, Pune as well

Members of the RERA panel said that for the convenience of complaints from other parts of the state, the panel will also conduct hearings at two other locations in the state.

OWING to the growing number of complaints that the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) have been receiving since August 1 from across the state, the body has decided to conduct hearings from two other offices, including Pune and Nagpur. While the additional staff members for both the offices have already been appointed, the three panel members are planning to travel to these offices once a week depending on the number of complaints they receive. Officials from RERA said that till date, they have registered 13,195 projects and received 215 complaints, mostly from consumers so far, of which 65 have been scheduled for hearings.

Apart from the promoters registering their projects, 9,334 agents have registered themselves as well. After being operationalised for the state, the charge of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli was also handed to MahaRERA. Members of the RERA panel said that for the convenience of complaints from other parts of the state, the panel will also conduct hearings at two other locations in the state.

While the Nagpur office will be ready in another month’s time, the one in Pune will take a couple of months. Panel members said that the two offices are expected to be functional by the end of this year. “Each member can handle 10-15 cases in a day. Depending on the number of cases we get, members can travel to the offices once a week to conduct hearings,” said Gautam Chatterjee, chairman of RERA.

RERA officials pointed out that while majority of the cases have been submitted by homebuyers against promoters, some complaints have been filed by promoters against another promoter or even by a contractor. “While anyone can file a complaint with the RERA, the ambit of the Act only pertains to those who are aggrieved and our focus is to safeguard the consumers. We, thus, cannot entertain cases in which a promoter raises allegations against another promoter since they have no locus standi in the case,” said a panel member.

The member added that most complaints have been disposed of and the parties have been asked to approach the city civil court instead. “Most of such complaints are land disputes or contractors alleging non-payment of bills. We are not entertaining such cases since we don’t want people to misuse the platform,” said the member. He added that until the other two offices are operational, complainants from across the state will have to come to the Mumbai office to appear for their hearings.