A parliamentary committee has come down heavily on various state governments, particularly those of Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, for failing to bring ongoing real estate projects under the provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

In a report tabled in Parliament on Thursday, the Committee on Subordinate Legislation asked the State governments to take all remedial measures to ensure that the ongoing projects are brought the Act.

‘Ongoing projects’ definition The committee also directed the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation to ask the State governments to amend or formulate the rules under RERA in such a way that there is no ambiguity regarding the definition of “ongoing projects.”

“The Act has clearly specified that the promoters of all those projects, which have not been received the completion certificate prior to the commencement of the Act, should get their projects registered with the regulatory authority of the state within three months from the date of commencement of the Act,” the committee said.

‘Provisions diluted’ It expressed concern that the rules notified by some of the States are not in consonance with the spirit of the Act and have resulted in the dilution of its provisions. Some States have framed the rules in such a manner that they were skewed in favour of builders, hurting consumer interests especially in areas like definition of ongoing projects, penalties for non-compliance with the Act and dealing with structural defects, the committee observed.

It also expressed concern that despite the Act directing States to make rules within six months of the law’s passage on May 1, 2016, only 12 States and UTs have notified the rules. Another 16 States and UTs have prepared only draft rules so far.

Besides, the committee was dismayed that no information about the notification of rules under RERA was available from three States — Goa, Manipur and West Bengal — and directed the Ministry to monitor them regularly and ensure that the rules are notified at the earliest. It also wanted the Ministry to monitor the progress made by four other States — Arunachal, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim — which had pointed out constitutional issues in implementing the Act.

Citing reports in a section of the media, the committee said the RERA rules enacted by Uttar Pradesh and Haryana excluded a majority of ongoing real estate projects in the National Capital Region.

The committee said Madhya Pradesh is the only State to appoint a Real Estate Appellate Tribunal, as mandated by the Act, and urged the Ministry to give all other States to a target date for setting up a regulatory authority and an appellate tribunal. Till such time the appellate tribunal is set up, the States should have an interim body to discharge its duties, it recommended.

The committee also pulled up the Ministry for not constituting a Central Advisory Council as laid down in the Act. “This proves beyond doubt that the Ministry’s approach is very casual,” it said.

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