Mumbai: Bombay High Court seeks MahaRERA’s help

The Bombay High Court HC has sought to know from the Maharashtra government if the statersquos housing regulator MahaRERA could identify classify and rate private developers so that societies and other authorities could make an informed decision while choosing a builderA division bench of Justice Gautam Patel and Justice Neela Gokhale was on February 3 hearing a petition taken up suo motu by the HC based on a plea filed by a person seeking payment of unpaid transit rent and against the stalled redevelopment of a cessed property known as Ratilal Mansion in south MumbaiThe issueThe redevelopment of the building was stalled in 2013 after private developer Orbit Corporation Limited which was involved in the project went into liquidation By then it had built nine floors of the new buildingMaharashtra Housing and Area Development Authorityrsquos MHADA advocate Prakash Lad on February 3 informed the high court that it was in the process of appointing a structural consultant to submit an audit report of the semifinished structureAlso Read Mumbai Bombay HC grants interim relief to 103yrold woman her familyHe further said that MHADA now has the power to redevelop a building itself The bench noted that the dilemma before the MHADA and the society is not just the structural audit and engineering technicalities but about making a proper and informed choice of a developerHC needsThe bench sought to know from the Maharashtra government if an authority such as the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority MahaRERA can identify classify or rate developers according to any measure that it deems appropriateldquoThis would be to the benefit of the concerned society as also MHADA and would minimise the risk to a considerable extent in project completion With a developer database accessible both the societies and MHADA would be able to make a better and informed decision about the choice of developerrdquo the court saidThe bench sought to know from MahaRERA if it has a database of developers and if the regulator has a rating system and if not then whether the authority was willing to consider developing one ldquoWe approach MahaRERA not just as a statutory authority but as a body with specialised knowledge expertise and data seeking its assistancerdquo it addedWhile taking suo motu cognisance of the matter the court had in January noted that this was a problem that occurs repeatedly throughout the city especially with the redevelopment of cessed buildingsThe bench had then noted that the law has no effective provision in force on what is to be done when a developer cannot complete construction leaving members out of their homes and on transit and large amounts of unpaid arrears of transit rentThe building in question was demolished in 2009 and was to be redeveloped It has now been attached by the BMC Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation over unpaid property tax The court has posted the matter for further hearing on March 303Day in March the high court will hear the matter furtherThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever