Former State Chief Secretary and newly-appointed Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Chairman in Chhattigarh, Vivek Dhand, has said that the Authority would protect the rights of buyers of properties in the real estate sector.
The other task of the Authority would be to maintain transparency and credibility in the real estate sector and to dispose off cases of the disputes between buyers and builders, he said.
Addressing a press conference here in the New Circuit House on Monday, Dhand said the RERA had been formed in the State in the month of April last year under a Central Act.
Informing about RERA's structure and hierarchy he said, it comprises one Chairman and two members.
Dhand further informed about the provisions in RERA and said it would now be mandatory for all builders and developers of the State to register themselves with RERA for their projects whose proposed area is larger than 500 square meters and numbers of apartments are more than 8. It will,really, be a huge step.
The registration process would start within a fortnight, he said.
Now the builders have to deposit 70 % of the recovered amount separately in the bank and would have to expend it proportionately as the stages of the project are completed, Dhand said.
They (buliders) now cannot use this amount for any other purposes, he said.
The amount too from this account could be withdrawn after certification from the team of Engineer, Architect and Charted Accountant, he said.
After every financial year, the accounts will have to be audited by a Chartered Accountant and the builders have to submit the audited copy of their projects to RERA, Dhand said.
The builders would also have to create their webpage in the RERA site for public having detailed information about the project. They will have to update the information about progress of their project on this website quarterly, he informed.
There would also be a prescribed format for agreement between the builder and the buyer which has to be used and the builders cannot take more than 10% of project amount during agreement, he informed.
If the builder fails to register with RERA, a fine amounting 10% of the total cost of the project would levied on him, he said.
And, if the builder continues to violate the rule, a punishment of three years jail term and imposition of a heavy fine is there under the RERA Act, Dhand added.