Mumbai: Fed-up of MahaRERA delays, buyers plan stir

Come March 4 hundreds of aggrieved flat buyers from across the city and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR will be protesting outside the office of the suburban collector in Bandra East against the state government and the MahaRERA over failure to give justice to aggrieved litigants The protest has been called by the NGO Watchdog FoundationThe aggrieved parties have cited the state governmentrsquos failure to fill vacancies in MahaRERA the failure to add benches to address the pendency of cases and other reasons for the protest MahaRERA practitioners claimed that over Rs 543 crore belonging to 884 litigants is stuck due to delay in issue of warrants against developersAdvocate Godfrey Pimenta who practices in MahaRERA and is a trustee of the Watchdog Foundation said ldquoThe Watchdog Foundation is supporting the genuine demand of flat buyers who had high hopes when the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act 2016 was enacted Due to paucity of members in the MahaRERA the average time taken for disposal of cases is between eight to 15 months against the mandatory period of 60 days or two monthsrdquoAlso read Maharashtra MahaRERA brings transparency into real estate sector to help the homebuyersldquoNatuarally flat buyers are frustrated Even an order in favour of the buyer creates a hassle because execution applications are also taking time for disposal Repeated demands to the state government to increase benches and fill vacancies in MahaRERA have fallen on deaf earsrdquo said Pimenta adding that 200 to 300 protesters most of them flat buyers are expected to attend the stirAddressing the stalled housing projects as creators of lsquoghost citiesrsquo Pimenta said ldquoAs per the property advisory company report of 2019 454 lakh units are part of stalled or delayed projects in seven cities Of these 84 per cent are in two major metro cities mdash Delhi NCR 62 per cent and Mumbai 22 per cent The 45 lakh stalled units are valued at Rs 462 lakh crorerdquoPimenta added ldquoThe slowdown in completion of projects is not across the spectrum of housing categories but visible in uppermid and premium categories A push from the government and funding agencies along with a strict code of conduct among developers may improve the situationrdquo Pimenta concludedlsquoJiwat Manglani a Chembur resident who had invested in Clan City in Taloja said ldquoI will join the protest at the suburban collectorrsquos office with 3040 others Out of over 1500 flat buyers duped by the developer of Clan City around 125 have approached MahaRERA Cases from 2019 are still pending I filed my complained in January this year I donrsquot know when the matter will be heard Litigants who have lost everything in the process of getting their dream home should be heard on priorityrdquo midday reported on the plight of the Clan City buyers in its February 25 report titled lsquo5 years on Clan City buyers seek reliefrsquoStatistics worrisomeCA Ramesh Prabhu founder chairman of MahaSEWA said ldquoTill date 20447 complaints are filed with MahaRERA since its formation in May 2017 Of these 13871 cases are disposed of which means 6576 cases are pending So on average 2311 cases are getting disposed of annually since MahaRERArsquos inception six years ago At this speed it would take another three years to clear pending cases With 10 to 12 new cases registered daily the pendency will only pile up In addition Rs 543 crore of 884 litigants is stuck as MahaRERA warrants against developers are pendingrdquo Prabhu added that posts of two members awre vacant At present 2025 cases are heard by one member and 1015 are heard by the MahaRERA chairman personally Since the chairman also has to handle other administrative tasks he is unable to devote more time even if he wishes to This is bound to increase pendencyProposing a solution Prabhu said ldquoEarlier the former MahaRERA chairman had demarcated complaints in two categoriesmdashcomplaints under Sections 7 and 8 stalled projects and complaints under Section 18 delayed interest on possession of RERA Complaints regarding stalled projects were given priority as litigants were directly affected and crores were at stake However at present all cases are considered together I find the former system more suitablerdquoAdvocate Vinod Sampat said ldquoThere are no steps to protect the interest of flat buyers Why are litigants losing faith in MahaRERA and thinking of morchas Itrsquos only because justice delayed is justice deniedrdquo02Vacancies in MahaRERAThe demands Appointment of more members on MahaRERA for speedier disposal of cases Mandatory disposal of RERA cases within 60 days from date of filing of complaint Give SWAMIH funds to stalled real estate projects Forensic audit of stalled projects Seizure of properties of rogue developers under Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositor Act Speedier auction of properties of the developers in case of warrants of attachment Termination of Letter of Intent for stalled SRA scheme for more than three years and appointment of new developers in their places