Haryana yet to start its website for Rera, 2 months into new law

GURUGRAM: The state government has failed to set up a permanent authority or create a website even two months after the Haryana Real Estate Regulation Act (H-Rera) came into effect, undermining the objective of the law that seeks to protect the interests of homebuyers.

As a result, buyers are still clueless about how and where to register their complaints under Rera.

Sources said that officials received around 160 complaints, by post, email, or personal submission, in the last two months but only 12 of them were forwarded to the interim Rera authority, Arun Kumar Gupta, additional chief secretary, DTCP.

Most of the complaints were not accepted for further processing as they were not submitted in the "required format", they added.

"I have sent multiple complaints to DTCP officials about the issues related to two projects I have invested in. However, after multiple mails, they told me that the complaints were not in the proper format and hence could not be processed," said Ved Prakash Bakshi, a 70-year-old retired government officer who has two homes — one in Sector 103 and another in Sector 80.

He added that there was no clarity on how to submit a complaint and people were unaware about the entire complaint procedure. Also, it is not clear whether the Rera authority would consider cases, which were already going on in court.

"Though the Act has been notified, there is no proper website or office which people can visit to seek clarification or submit their complaints. I believe the government must hold an awareness campaign on Rera, just the way they did it for GST," said Gaurav Prakash, a homebuyer who has a house in Sector 103.

Homebuyers claimed that the delay was only aggravating their plight and denting their faith in the government.

"I had invested for a home in Imperia Wishfield in 2012. We were supposed to get possessions of the flats in 2015 but the work started in only 2017. I wanted to approach the Rera authority but now I am not sure if that will help, given the state government's pro-developer stance. I would rather approach court," said HP Singh, 51-year-old businessman from Gurgaon.

When contacted, interim Rera authority Gupta said he was not aware of the exact number of complaints received under Rera so far or their status.

Asked about the website, he said, "As of now, we cannot comment on the timeline for setting up of the website. It will come up only when the authority is ready." He did not give a deadline for setting up of the permanent authority though.

Elaborating further, another senior official said, "The website cannot be launched unless the authority is in place. The Rera authority will look after the format and content of the website."

No sub-judice case would be entertained under H-Rera, he added.