Western UP RERA bench hears 300 cases on incomplete real estate projects

The Western bench of the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP RERA) has so far heard 300 cases on incomplete real estate projects since its first hearing a fortnight ago.

It now plans to appoint an adjudicating officer to decide on compensation matters and a reconciliation officer to resolve cases through amicable out-of-court settlements as in the case of MahaRERA, a senior UP RERA member told Moneycontrol.

“We have so far received 3,340 complaints pertaining to 722 projects in Uttar Pradesh. As many as 70 percent of projects are from Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. Majority of complaints are with regard to non-delivery of projects and commitment not met by builders. Homebuyers either want delivery of homes along with interest penalty or have given up hope and want their money back with interest,” says Balwinder Kumar, member UP RERA bench.

UP has two benches – one in Greater Noida and the other in Lucknow. Hearings are being held on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesdays have been reserved for interactions with Noida, Greater Noida and other agencies for negotiations. The Greater Noida bench started work on September 4.

Uttar Pradesh has 2,449 projects registered in the state, out of which 1,240 ongoing projects are in NCR and 1,209 outside of NCR.

“Our first priority is to ensure that home buyers get their homes. In cases where there is scope to revive projects and complete them, we may appoint a reconciliation officer, who may be a retired officer, a reputed lawyer or a bureaucrat. He may be called upon to arrive at an amicable resolution between two parties out of the ambit of RERA first as it happens under MahaRERA,” he says.

In case the process fails, then UP RERA will pass appropriate orders, he says.

An adjudicating officer may also be appointed soon. He may be a retired district judge who may be called upon to hear cases and pass orders with regard to compensation, says Kumar.

He points out the authority is also within its powers to issue orders with regard to penalty interest. If the promoter does not pay the money to buyers, the authority can issue a recovery certificate to the concerned district magistrate who can then take steps to recover the amount from the concerned builder by either selling his assets or through liquidation, he says.

The Western UP bench has been hearing matters since September 4. While one bench has heard cases pertaining to Earth Infrastructure, the other has heard the Supertech case.

“We will be passing orders within the stipulated time period of 60 days. In case of the Earth Infrastructure matter, since the promoters are in jail, we may have to pass an ex-parte order in favour of homebuyers,” he says.

The bench is not in favour of taking up cases that are currently being heard in the Supreme Court. “We are not taking cases being heard in the Supreme Court, especially if there are specific directions that have been issued by the apex court. Even if there are no specific directions but it has been seized of the matter, we are not taking up the matter,” says Kumar.

Many projects have been delayed due to lack of last mile funding. “The Greater Noida Authority is also deliberating to make the project settlement policy simple so that more people can benefit under the policy. RERA would also try and facilitate and ensure more people benefit from such policy measures,” he says.

UP RERA also plans to take up quality issues separately. “We also intend checking the quality of housing projects that are registered under RERA,” he says.

With regard to grievances against past projects that are not registered with RERA, Kumar says that the priority of UP RERA is to first ensure that all pending cases of registered projects be heard at least once. Where a completion certificate has been issued then our policy ‘as of now’ is that “we are not taking up those projects.”