With the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) coming into force, the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) will now have to complete its projects in a time-bound manner and give possession to a buyer on time. In the last one decade, CHB had launched several schemes where either people did not get possession or they had to wait for years to get one. For instance, the Sector 63 General Self Housing scheme was introduced in 2008, but the buyers got possession after eight years, even as the draw of lots were held before. In 2008, the CHB floated a special housing scheme meant exclusively for employees. As many as 4,000 flats were to be constructed in Sectors 52, 53 and 56. The purpose behind the scheme was to provide flats to employees on no-profit-no-loss basis. However, the work failed to take off. Draw of lots already took place where 8,000 employees applied for the scheme in which 3,930 employees were declared successful. Similarly, an oustees housing scheme was announced by the housing board in 2007. The draw of lots, however, are being conducted after 10 years. Likewise, the Sector 51 housing scheme was announced last year but till date nothing has been done. According to property consultant, Subhash Sharma feels that the implementation of RERA would certainly impact the CHB. “This act is mainly for private builders who do not carry out major works in Chandigarh, Mohali and other areas. But CHB would be impacted as it keeps sitting on its project. Moreover, as per the Act, all property-related disputes would have to be addressed within a period of 60 days,” Sharma said.
