New apartment ownership and management bill ready: Odisha govt tells HC

CUTTACK:  The Orissa High Court on Wednesday expressed hope that the State government will soon enact a fresh apartment ownership and management Bill complying to the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act.

The court was hearing a PIL that had challenged the validity of the Odisha Apartment Ownership (Amendment) Rules 2021 on the ground that it is contrary to provisions of the RERA Act, 2016.

Bimalendu Pradhan, a Bhubaneswar based apartment owner had filed the PIL, which pointed out that sale deeds conveying common areas to the individual owners of apartments were getting registered by the builders on daily basis in violation of the RERA Act. Advocate Mohit Agarwal appeared on behalf of the petitioner.

Earlier on May 12, the court had issued an interim order directing the Inspector General of Registration (IGR) to strictly ensure that the sale deeds registered hereafter abide by the RERA Act and rules thereunder.  In the order the court had made it clear that actual registration of sale deeds where sharing of common areas has been conveyed to individual owners cannot be legally sustained as it is inconsistent with the RERA Act. The State government filed an affidavit which stated that a fresh apartment ownership and management Bill has been already completed and it is RERA Act compliant.

“Expeditious steps are being taken by the Government to enact it, preferably within a period of three months, by adhering to necessary legislative procedures,” Sushanta Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary Housing & Urban Development Department said in the affidavit. The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice RK Pattanaik posted the matter to August 24.