Maharashtra awaits CM nod for housing authority

Maha had its own Act, but Centre too passed its Act later; implementation is awaited.

Despite the Centre passing its law to set up a housing regulatory authority, the state government has developed cold feet over its implementation. The file has been pending before chief minister Devendra Fadnavis awaiting approval for over a month. Also, the state’s own law in this regard was passed in 2012, which was kept in cold storage for three years.

The state housing department is finding it tough to deal with complaints regarding developers’ fraudulent schemes to which ordinary people are falling prey. The state was the first to pass Maharashtra Housing (Regulation and Development) Act, 2012 to curb malpractices in real estate sector. But it was never implemented. Later, it got repealed when the Centre took the state Act and made its own The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, which was passed in March. Now, the Centre’s Act is in place but the state is again delaying its implementation.

When contacted, a senior housing department official on condition of anonymity said that the Centre’s Act has been put in cold storage. “We have the Act ready for implementation. There is an urgent need to enforce it for the sake of the citizens being cheated by developers. The housing issue is very sensitive and it is seen that the developers take undue advantage of the desperation of people for buying their own house. But political will is required to implement the Act,” the official said.

As per the sources in the housing department, the file for the approval is pending before the chief minister. However, the CM did not reply to a query on the issue after sending text message to him on delay in implementation of the Act.

Congress-NCP government had drafted the state Act after receiving lot of complaints of cheating and fraud by builders. At present, the people can approach the court in any cheating case. It was also decided that former bureaucrat Gautam Chaterjee, who was involved in the draft-making process, would be made the first head of the housing regulatory authority for the state. However, there was no further development for two years and then the Centre came up with its own Act.

The Act makes it compulsory for builders to register their project with the authority to bring transparency. It is mandatory to disclose details of the projects including approvals, plans, land status etc. The houses are to be sold on carpet area only. The developer cannot take deposit or advance without first entering into agreement for sale. The authority can fine the builder for flouting various norms.