the goan I network
PANAJI
Urban Development Secretary and interim RERA Authority, Sudhir Mahajan, has said that RERA Authority is supposed to dispose complaints within 60 days.
RERA stands for Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, which was implemented sometime back to protect the interests of real-estate buyers and also sellers against malpractices and unscrupulous elements.
Mahajan was speaking at an awareness campaign conducted by RERA Authority to spread awareness about this Act.
Mahajan said, “Ever since the government allowed 100% FDI in real-estate sector, it started progressing at a very fast pace. Yet, it remained unregulated and consumers’ interests were not protected. Consumer laws were in force but by the time consumers went to court, the damage was already done. RERA was implemented to address all these issues.”
He continued, “To register with RERA Authority, a builder has to disclose a lot of information like when he got the construction license, whether the land has any legal encumbrances, when the project will be over.”
Mahajan further said that over 350 projects have been registered with RERA Authority in the state and real estate agents registration has gone up beyond 50. He said the number of complaints is minimal and genuine complaints are addressed in a time-bound fashion.
Other notable personalities who attended the event were Roland Martins, co-ordinator, GOACAN and Dr Jagannath (Desh) Prabhudessai, president of the Goa unit of CREDAI.
Martins said, “For successful implementation of RERA, awareness about this Act has to reach the villages. Typically, people in cities like Panaji, Margao and Mapusa are aware of the Act but awareness hasn’t reached villages. Therefore, we suggested that such camps be organized.”
RERA provides for several protections to buyers, including penalties to agents for misrepresentation, delivery of projects on time, holds builders responsible for defects in construction, etc. The most salient feature of RERA is that it provides that 70% of the money received by a builder from customers should be deposited in a separate account and used for cost of construction and land.
This will ensure that a builder uses funds only for the project he has collected the funds for and not for other projects.
