UP Real Estate Regulatory Authority recommends probe against realtor

The UP Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP RERA) on Monday recommend a probe by special investigation team (SIT) against defaulting Noida-based realtor Unnati Fortune for the alleged diversion of Rs 107 crore of homebuyers’ money from its projects.

This is the second SIT probe ordered by the regulator against an errant developer within a month after the one against RSons developers of Lucknow on May 30.

Earlier, the authority also imposed a penalty of Rs 39.30 crore on Rohtas and Rs 1 crore on Ansal API of Lucknow for not complying with its orders.

While the regulator has formed a four-member panel to monitor Rohtas, the registration application of whose Sultanpur Road integrated township project was cancelled on Monday, it has put a decision on deregistering of six ongoing projects of Ansal API on hold for the time being.

The panel to monitor Rohtas projects would have UP RERA members Kalpana Mishra, Bhanu Pratap Singh, finance officer and LDA vice-chairman Prabhu Narain Singh.

Banks have been directed not to allow Ansal API to withdraw money from its project accounts till it furnishes proper sanction letter from UP RERA.

The authority, which had detected a diversion of Rs 600 crore of home-buyers money in the forensic audit against the developer, has now decided to get a concurrent audit of Ansal API by a chartered accountant firm empanelled with the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG).

In the meantime, Ansal API has been asked to put out a public notice asking allottees to deposit money only in the escrow accounts, the details of which should be furnished in the notice. The decisions were taken at a board meeting of the UP RERA presided over by its chairman Rajive Kumar.

The UP State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) was also pulled up by the regulator for failing to get its ongoing Trans-Ganga City scheme in Unnao registered with the authority. It has been given a month’s time to do so failing which 10 per cent penalty on the total cost of the project would be imposed.

First Published: Jun 25, 2019 14:08 IST