Rera provisions: Bombay HC asks Centre and state to file reply in 3 weeks

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Centre and the state to file their replies while hearing petitions challenging various provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA). A division bench of Justice Anoop Mohta and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai directed the Centre and the state to file a reply in three weeks. The state has to file a reply to a petition challenging a circular by the state authority under the RERA that makes owners co-promoters in a real estate project.

Advocate General A A Kumbhakoni informed the court that plot owners are covered by the definition of a promoter under RERA. He said the general public was not completely aware of all the provisions related to the act. Justice Mohta said: “It depends on the facts and circumstances of each agreement and is not a general agreement.”

Meanwhile, several petitions by builders challenged the constitutional validity of various provisions under the new law. The DB Realty group of companies had moved the high court questioning the extreme, unreasonable provision under the RERA that requires ongoing projects to be registered with the authority set up under the new law.

One of the other petitions challenged the RERA requirement to register ongoing projects, even those which are 95 per cent complete. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh for the Centre said: “7,000 developers are already registered under RERA”.