Bengaluru: On November 17, more than 100 people gathered at a construction site on Sarjapur Road to stage a silent protest against a well-known builder for delaying the construction of a residential complex where they had booked flats.
The 950-house project, launched in 2012, was to be handed over to buyers by June 2016, or at least by December 2016, considering a six-month grace period. But even two years after the deadline has passed, the work is incomplete and the buyers’ wait to get possession of their homes continues. Most of them have taken loans to buy the flats and the repayment on that has already started. “We are spending around Rs 75,000 per month on paying EMI and rent on the house that we are currently living in,” said Sunil Kumar Gupta, one of the people who participated in the protest. “We feel cheated.”
The protest wasn’t only against the builder, but also over a delay in addressing their grievances by the real estate regulator, which is supposed to do that in a time-bound manner.
In March, about 75 homebuyers at the project filed separate complaints with the Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) against the developer. While the delay in handing over the property was their main grievance, they also complained to the grievance redressal authority about issues such as reduction in the floor area from what they said was promised and the quality of construction. They sought compensation from the builder for violating agreement conditions. Eight months since approaching the RERA, the case hasn’t moved much, they alleged
A year-and-a-half of constituting the RERA in the state, the authority which is supposed to protect homebuyers has not been able to function efficiently. Though the Karnataka RERA Rules mandate that complaints received for violation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act should be disposed of within 60 days, it is not happening. The reasons: there is only one adjudicating officer to handle complaints received from across the state. According to sources in the RERA, the regulator has so far adjudicated 470 cases, while another over 900 are pending before it. In a majority of the adjudicated cases, builders are not paying compensation as no follow-up or whiplash is done. “The cases such as over-delay in handing over property do not require long hearing, especially when the complainants have submitted officers to speed up the trial failing which the whole purpose of the Act is lost,” said MS Shankar, secretary of the Forum for People’s
Collective Efforts (known as Fight for RERA).
While the state housing secretary, who is currently the chairman of the RERA, was not available for comment, an officer in the department said it would soon increase the number of adjudicating officers. “We have recently issued a notification to set up a permanent RERA authority which was long overdue. We have been getting applications for the post of chairman and two members. Once the permanent authority is set up, the number of adjudication officers too will be increased,” the officer said.
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