Home buyers have written to RERA Karnataka (K-RERA) complaining about lack of transparency in the authority’s website as well as those of developers, who are bound to display vital information under the RERA Act.

The Forum for People’s Collective Efforts, Karnataka chapter has alleged that though the Karnataka RERA Rules have a chapter dedicated to stipulating the details to be published on the website, including records of all registered real estate projects and details of defaulters, vital details and information have been diluted under a new ‘Services’ tab.

The forum, in the letter, said that it was ‘shocking’ to note content which was available to the public has “all of a sudden disappeared” from the website. Among what is missing are judgments, for which one now needs the complaint number to fetch details. For getting project status and renewal status too, people now need to have the project registration number to get details.

“Earlier, all sub tabs (application for registration, application under process, application approved, application rejected, application for third party transfer, application revoked/rejected) under the project status tab, and under project for renewal, all sub tabs (completion date expired, completion applications, extension approved, extension application under process) were accessible and available to the public,” they have pointed out.

In addition, under the rules, promoters are required to create a web page on the website of the authority and enter all details of proposed projects for public viewing, they added.

“Despite completing three years of RERA implementation in Karnataka, the KRERA Rule 15 is not at all enforced and many contents are found not incorporated in the website. The compliance of this rule would help buyers take a comparative decision on buying a property. There will be transparency on the project status, update, sanctioned plan, details of amenities, facilities that will come up in the project along with its specifications, commencement certificate, number of RERA complaints, litigations, etc,” the forum said, adding that buyers and investors need not have to get the project documents from the developers to seek legal opinion.

As per the current practice, there is remittance of up to ₹5 lakh to receive the documents, they said.

The forum has asked K-RERA to update its website with details of orders on appeal to the Karnataka Rera Appellate Tribunal and the High Court, details of recovery warrants and updates on the fulfilment of penal action.

K-RERA Chairman M.R. Kamble told The Hindu that the website is being revamped. “We are trying various solutions to improve the performance, which will be beneficial to home buyers and developers. All these observations will be kept in mind while finalising a user-friendly portal.”