Kolkata, August 22 An association of homebuyers has urged Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal to issue necessary directions for full implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) with functional regulatory authority and tribunal within the next one month.

Regulatory absence

According to Abhay Upadhyay, President, Forum for People’s Collective Efforts (FPCE), despite the Supreme Court holding West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act, 2017 (WBHIRA) unconstitutional in May 2021, the ‘West Bengal Real Estate Regulatory Authority’ and ‘West Bengal Real Estate Appellate Tribunal’ are still not functional in the State.

“This has encouraged builders to blatantly violate the provisions of RERA. They are launching advertising and selling real estate projects without registration in the state, continuing malpractices unabated like taking more than 10 per cent money from homebuyers without executing builder-buyer agreement, diverting funds from the projects, changing the sanctioned plans, layout and specifications after project has been sold without taking consent of two-third allottees,” Upadhyay said in his letter to the Chief Minister.

At a time when there is a “boom” in the real estate sector, the absence of functional regulatory mechanism is causing mistrust among prospective buyers from other states including NRIs.

“It is needless to say that the prospective buyers have high confidence in states which have vibrant regulatory mechanism and in the projects which are registered under RERA. Due to this, West Bengal is ranking low among buyers and thereby severely impacting the economy and development of the real estate sector of the State,” he said.

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