Mumbai: Terming the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) to be a reforming legislation for the real estate sector, the Union government in its affidavit has said it is similar to other sectors like securities, banking, insurance and needs to be looked at from the point of view of being a consumer welfare legislation.
The government said this in the affidavit it filed in the Bombay high court, which is hearing litigations filed by developers and builders challenging the constitutional validity of the Act.
The HC is hearing the issue on the directions from the Supreme Court issued in September to hear and decide on the issue within two months.
Referring to the process of passing the legislation, Sailesh Jogani, under secretary, ministry of housing and urban affairs, Government of India said the Act was passed unanimously by Parliament after having spent considerable time on deliberation of various factors and the provisions of the Bill. “The Act is a beneficial legislation wherein the Legislature has sought to balance the various competing interests by considering the interest of all the stakeholders and has been aimed at reforming the real estate sector,” the affidavit of Mr Jogani reads.
Citing a Supreme Court judgment with regards to the enactment of a statute, the affidavit says that the enactment of the RERA statute is in line with the apex court order from the perspective of it being, “a legislation in public interest and for public welfare.”
The RERA was passed by the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha in 2016 and the entire Act came into effect in 2017.
