Consortium of societies Ghaziabad (COG) and AOA Federation organised a seminar on the Real Estate Regulatory Rules, 2016, on November 19. SK Bahri, chief mentor of Fight for RERA, a pan-India team of RERA activists, and Dayanand Prasad, OSD of Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA), were the special guests at the event, which was organised in Indirapuram. Organisers of the event said the intent of the seminar was to gather momentum for a movement to demand changes in the real estate rules issued by the state government, which were full of loopholes and in many ways, pro-builders.
The seminar was attended by residents and members of RWAs/AOAs from across Ghaziabad. The organisers pointed out that the rules were expected to be a foolproof solution for the atrocities of erring real estate developers, but instead were full of loopholes, which the builders could manipulate.
One of the major problems with the rules was the confusion around the term "ongoing". According to the rules issued,
- Projects where RWAs or resident bodies have taken over maintenance responsibilities from the builder cannot be considered ongoing.
- Projects where development work has been completed and sale/lease deeds of 60 per cent of the apartments/houses/plots have been executed cannot be considered ongoing.
- Projects where development work has been completed and the builders have applied for a completion certificate from the competent authority cannot be considered ongoing.
The organisers said that these definitions of "ongoing project" were ambiguous and left many builders out of the purview of the rules.
Colonel TP Tyagi, president of AOA Federation, said there were a lot of other problems with the rules. "According to the rules, the builder has to provide details of the existing site plan of the project, but the builder does not have to mention the changes already made to the original layout plan," explained Colonel Tyagi.
He also said that the new rules which were supposed to resolve the problems faced by homebuyers were ineffective due to the changes made by the state government. "They have diluted the effectiveness of the Real Estate Regulatory Act which is the original source of the state rules," added Colonel Tyagi.
Speaking to City Spidey, Bahri said the pan-India team homebuyers managed to successfully attain the Real Estate Regulatory Act, 2015. It now depended on the local and regional bodies of homebuyers to pursue the state governments to implement it properly at the state level. On being asked about the role of Fight For RERA, he said it would assist the resident bodies to keep the movement alive.
Sharat Jha, president of Consortium of Socirties, Ghaziabad, or COG, referred to the seminar as a beginning which will be followed by more such events to spread awareness among the public.
Dayanand Prasad, the GDA official assured full support to residents. "The rules will be implemented in the best way possible for the welfare of the homebuyers," he added.
