Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has been getting more teeth since it was established on May 1 last year. In its two orders in the last ten days, the Bombay High Court has enhanced the authority’s power to deal with consumer complaints, in a move welcomed by the sector that has lost consumer confidence in the last few years.

In its order of July 31, the division bench of Justice VM Deshpande and Justice RM Borde said MahaRERA could entertain complaints of unregistered projects as against the earlier norm of intervening only in projects registered with the authority. MahaRERA has so far registered 17295 projects in the state.

“The work of RERA in protecting consumer rights is now being acknowledged. Earlier, consumers had to go to a civil or consumer court if a project was not registered with the authority. But by widening the scope of RERA, consumers will benefit,” Pankaj Kapoor, MD and founder of Liases Foras told Business Line.

MahaRERA has also made the necessary modifications in its software to entertain complaints of unregistered projects. In the last 15 months, RERA has received 3705 complaints, of which it orders have been passed in 2163 cases while 1091 are under hearing.

In another order on August 7, the Bombay High Court ruled that provisions of RERA will also apply in case of long-term lease agreements and that compensation complaints can be heard by it. Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi said RERA had the jurisdiction to hear and decide complaints of people seeking compensation for delay in possession of three flats in the Lavasa township.

“The main objective (of RERA) is to ensure accountability on part of the real estate sector and to provide a comprehensive, effective and speedy remedy to persons who have invested large sums of money for having a home of their dreams,” the court order said.

Ravi Ahuja, Senior Executive Director, Mumbai and Developer Services, Colliers International India said widening RERA’s power is an effective way to take to task developers who are willfully defaulting. “Time is ripe for the Maharashtra government to consider placing account ability for delay on part of government bodies that need to sanction approvals and clearances by bringing them under the RERA ambit.

“Delays towards approvals, in turn, lead to delay in delivery by developers. RERA can bring such accountability under its ambit, going a long way in further protecting the consumers and buyers and cutting red tape,” Ahuja added.

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