It has been over a year since Real Estate Regulatory Authority was set up in UP to implement Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA), but the state government is yet to set up a dedicated RERA tribunal for addressing the complaints of the homebuyers.
The UP housing and urban development department in January 2018, therefore, notified that grievances related to RERA will be addressed by the appellate tribunal of the Uttar Pradesh state transport department in accordance with the rules mentioned in Section 43 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.
Rule 4 under Section 43 of the Act states: “The appropriate government of two or more states or union territories may, if it deems fit, establish one single Appellate Tribunal: Provided that, until the establishment of an Appellate Tribunal under this section, the appropriate government shall designate, by order, any Appellate Tribunal functioning under any law for the time being in force, to be the Appellate Tribunal to hear appeals under the Act.”
So essentially, till the time RERA had its own dedicated tribunal, the concerns or complaints of the homebuyers could be heard in a tribunal functioning under any other law.
But, at the same time, Rule 1 under Section 43 states: “The appropriate government shall within a period of one year from the date of coming into force of this Act, by notification, establish an Appellate Tribunal to be known as the — (name of the State/Union territory) Real Estate Appellate Tribunal.”
The same has been pointed out by Alok Kumar, president of Federation of Apartment Owners Association. He says, “Section 43 mentions that the state government should set up its real estate appellate tribunal within a year from the date of coming into force. The RERA Act came into force in UP on May 1. Now it is over a year and the tribunal is yet to be set up. The issue is too serious to be pushed around. Lives and homes of many people are at stake. The government should stop the makeshift solutions and form a RERA tribunal soon,” Kumar said.
Speaking to City Spidey, Abrar Ahmad, secretary UPRERA, added, “RERA is a small Act and has many odd sections. The order has been issued according to rules mentioned in RERA. The Act provides that till a regular tribunal is constituted the government can designate any other tribunal working in the state to address complaints related to RERA.”
However, Ahmad refrained from commenting on the delay in formation of the RERA tribunal.
