Mumbai: Take action to avert such mess in future, forum tells union min

A Kolkatabased nonprofit Forum for Peoplersquos Collective Effort FPCE working for the protection of consumers and home buyers across India has written to Union Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri regarding a recently submitted report on realestate projects by a committee led by former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant The letter expresses concerns and makes recommendations to prevent the ensuing chaos in the sectorThe nonprofit was formed by the core committee members of Fight For RERA FFR under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 It aims to be a watchdog for policies laws and regulations to ensure consumersrsquo and home buyersrsquo interests are protectedThe plight of home buyers is reflected in scams like the one involving Karrm Infrastructure Private Limited wherein MahaRERA registration was obtained using forged documentsAbhay Upadhyay president FPCEAbhay Upadhyay president FPCE and member Central Advisory Council RERA Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs told midday ldquoThe Amitabh Kantled committee has given recommendations which will certainly help complete stalled projects At the same time it should also have addressed the reasons for the sector landing in this mess The committee has failed to identify wilful defaulting builders who enriched themselves with the hardearned money of homebuyers and have not recommended blacklisting of such buildersrdquoldquoWe are concerned that we may land in a similar situation of huge stalled projects again and homebuyers will again end up with their hardearned money stuckrdquo Upadhyay added ldquoOur recommendations will ensure that trust in the sector is restored and it stays free from such issues foreverrdquo Upadhyay saidPoints madeFPCErsquos letter expresses concern about the effectiveness integrity commitment and enforcement of RERA To support its concerns FPCE cites the possibility that there still exist projects that are not registered under RERA and highlights the fact that promoters continue to ignore the quarterly updation of project information as mandated by RERA The letter points out that in the case of the latter regulatory authorities are only issuing notices instead of imposing penaltiesThe letter further cites the committeersquos recommendation for delayed projects being eligible for state or RERAled resolutions The recommendation has included projects that began after RERArsquos establishment in 2016 as eligible The letter states ldquoThis clearly suggests that even projects initiated after the implementation of RERA are experiencing delays and issues This again raises doubts about the effectiveness and functioning of RERA in preventing project delays and ensuring timely completion which was one of the prime objectives of RERArdquoFPCE also expressed concern about asking home buyers with pending payments to pay directly to RERA instead of builders which FPCE believes reflects a lack of trust in builders and RERArsquos failure to restore faith in the sector and in builders ldquoItrsquos very sad and disappointing that the Committee did not recommend blacklisting of such builders who cannot be trusted with the hardearned money of homebuyers though we had suggested in our representation to the Committeerdquo the letter statesThe letter raises the committeersquos recommendation of a fresh threeyear extension for projects without charging any penalties and concessions and exemptions for builders without specifying qualifying criteria which may give builders the idea that all are eligible to them The committeersquos report mentions that there are 412 lakh stressed dwelling units involving R408 lakh crores However the letter questions why recommendations have not been made to prevent such dire situations The recommendations the letter states are inadequate to reassure home buyers and safeguard their interestsFPCErsquos recommendationsOne of the key suggestions by FPCE is to establish a lsquoRERA Monitoring Committeersquo RMC primarily composed of homebuyers distinguished independent individuals and reputable nonprofit organisations ldquoNotably this committee should exclude any involvement of builders or their organizationsrdquo the letter states ldquoThe RMCrsquos primary role would be to scrutinise the deviations operational practices and overall functionality and intent of the RERA Authorities The RMC could present its findings to the Central Advisory Council during its meetingsrdquo the letter explains Further FPCE recommends that the same Kantled committee or another one recommend actions to prevent future debacles and protect home buyersFPCE has also recommended that the current report by the committee be accompanied by clarifications that concessions and exemptions to builders will be limited to legacy stalled projects that extensions should be on a casetocase basis that builders with projects stalled for more than two years should be blacklisted and that home buyers in projects that receive extension should be compensated