RERA told to clear home buyers’complaints

Y. Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: Here is good news for hapless homebuyers fed up with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority’s (RERA) inability or negligence in disposing thousands of pending cases.

The Under Secretary (RERA) of the Housing Department wrote a letter to the Secretary of RERA on January 25 to take a suitable action on pending complaints of home buyers.

“I am directed to advise you to look into the complaint lodged by Karnataka Homebuyers Forum as per the norms and provide information to the complainant on the action taken regarding pending complaints with you,” the Under Secretary said in the letter.

The Karnataka Home Buyers Forum has complained to the Chief Minister and Urban Development Minister and others about the pending cases with Karnataka RERA. The Karnataka Home Buyers Forum has claimed that more than 6,100 complaints were registered with the RERA but only 315 orders were passed as on January 4, 2022. They have also blamed the RERA for not ensuring no transparency on the progress of complaints pending with the RERA.

The other major complaint is the lack of timebound recovery mechanism to implement or enforce the RERA orders. They said the revenue authorities were able to recover only Rs 6.8 crore out of Rs 245 crore as on August 31, 2021.

“At last a ray of hope for home buyers in the state. I hope the RERA Secretary takes the necessary action,’’ said Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar, convener, Karnataka Home Buyers Association.

However, M.S. Shankar, National General Secretary, Forum for People’s Collective Efforts, has described the letter by the Under Secretary (RERA) of Urban Development Department as a tactic to pass the buck and it is not for the first time that an Under Secretary writes a letter to the RERA.

“We had meetings with the Urban Development Department and RERA officials and submitted the minutes of the meeting for further action two years ago but nothing has happened till date,” said Shankar.

He said that Forum for People’s Collective Efforts have been demanding constitution of multi task committee under the chairmanship of Housing Secretary comprising with FPCE, K RERA Chairman and Members, Revenue Secretary, UDD Secretary, Law Secretary, BBMP Commissioner, BDA Commissioner, Registrar of Stamps and Registration, and a joint meeting chaired by Housing Secretary, K RERA Chairman and members, Revenue Secretary, Law Secretary and bureaucrats only would help to see some light at the end of the tunnel. “Otherwise, the blame game and passing the responsibility to other departments for poor implementation and enforcement shall continue for years,’’ he said.