Bombay High Court mandates linking with local bodies for buyer protection

To safeguard the interests of homebuyers and ensure transparency in real estate project registrations the division bench of the Bombay High Court recently passed a sixpoint directive which includes linking all municipal corporations municipalities and urban local authority websites with MahaRERA portal within three months and uploading Commencement Certificate CC and Occupation Certificate OC issued certificate within 48 hours on their respective websites etcThe Public Interest LitigationSandeep Patil an architect from Dombivli and whistleblower turned petitioner contends that under Sections 32 and 34 of the RERA Act MahaRERA is vested with powers to facilitate an effective regulatory mechanism which includes devising methods to ensure the verification of documents submitted by developersThe petitioner has argued that the lack of coordination between MahaRERA and local authorities contravenes the fundamental objectives of the RERA Act particularly the protection of home buyers from fraudulent real estate practices Mandatory normsThe petitioner emphasised that the RERA Act requires developers to obtain a valid registration certificate by submitting genuine project details including approvals from competent authorities This is crucial for safeguarding potential buyers in line with the objectives of the RERA Act Additionally the Government Resolution dated September 20 2019 restricts the registration of projects that lack RERA certification or a completion certificate reaffirming the intent to prohibit the registration of projects developed without requisite approvals These measures reflect a legislative and administrative commitment to protect the public interest and the petitioner argues that the respondents must implement them to prevent malpractices in the real estate sectorUnauthorised constructionsThe petitioner submitted that the project by Ms Sai Builders and Developers Kalyan East allegedly registered on October 15 2020 based on a forged commencement certificate illustrates a larger issue of developers exploiting regulatory loopholesThe petitioner pointed to widespread unauthorised construction in approximately 27 villages within Kalyan and Ambernath Talukas suggesting that developers circumvent compliance requirements by creating forged documentsThe petitioner argued that under Section 7 of the RERA Act MahaRERA possesses the authority to revoke registrations obtained through fraudulent means and thus a coordinated mechanism is essential to detect and deter such malpractice MahaRERA responseIn response to the courtrsquos notice MahaRERA in its affidavit stated that it has exercised its powers under Section 71 of the RERA Act which authorises the authority to revoke project registration in cases of fraudulent documentationThe authorityrsquos decision to revoke the project registration empowers MahaRERA to freeze accounts related to noncompliant projects preventing further transactions that could affect innocent purchasers MahaRERA further submits that it has urged the Government of Maharashtra to establish a centralised digital platform facilitating interagency verification of milestone approvals like commencement and occupation certificates MahaRERA also received a list of 65 fraudulent commencement certificates from the assistant town planner KDMC were used by other developers In light of this MahaRERA has initiated proceedings to cancel registrations for 64 projects under Section 71 and froze bank accounts us 7 4 Cof the RERA ActCourt directivesThe division bench comprising of Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and Justice Amit Borkar after hearing all the sides passed six points directives which include 1 Compliance with GR The State of Maharashtra must enforce strict adherence to the February 23 2023 resolution ensuring standardized processes for issuing and publishing commencement and occupation certificates2 Website integration All municipal bodies in Maharashtra must link their websites with the MahaRERA portal within three months3 Interim transparency Until integration municipal bodies must upload commencement and occupation certificates on their websites within 48 hours of issuance4 Document verification From June 19 2023 MahaRERA will verify commencement certificates before approving project registrations as per the RERA Act and Order No 45 of 20235 System integration The Building Plan Management System BPMS must be linked with MahaRERArsquos online system within three months to prevent fraudulent certificates6 Demolition of illegal structures The KDMC Commissioner must demolish illegal structures as per the affidavit dated August 26 2024 with police support The process must be completed in three monthsPetitioner speakldquoWe are satisfied with some of the directives that the high court has passed and hope that this would bring in some form of transparency and safeguard the flat buyers Our main contention was to have a single web portal as practiced in London UK where every detail of a particular residential commercial project is made available right from building approval to building completion registration of any unit in the said project taxes paid and legal compliances etc is available on the tip of the finger but such a practice is yet lacking in Maharashtra Indiardquo said architect Sandeep Patil