The governments of several states are on doubts by home buyers who had this firm belief in the fact that they would put a neutral RERA or Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act into practice that would help them in getting out of the ensnare of delayed delivery of homes while infusing efficiency and transparency in the real estate field of India. There were many assurances offered to the home buyers and several promises made but everything got buried when the state government miserably failed in implementing RERA rules on May 1, 2017.
There are many states that tried their level best in keeping themselves out of the charge of allegations on the implementation of RERA rules in perfect time but they failed in wooing the home buyers because of the diluted and unclear provisions of RERA. It has also been found that states such as Gujarat consider this Act hilarious and are taking it as a joke. Government of Gujarat notified RERA rules on 1st May, 2017 but the rules have been summed up in a total of nine pages without the provisions being mentioned clearly.
States like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have followed the guidelines of the Centre partially while diluting several important improvements. The rules of RERA were outlined in the state of Uttar Pradesh during the reign of Akhilesh Yadav, the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. However, the home buyers have come forward with the allegations that the rules are diluted. Taking the concerns of the home buyers into account, the present Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has offered the assurance to cancel the rules that has earlier been notified and also provide pro-consumer RERA rules in UP. Recently, CM Yogi Adityanath launched the UP RERA website offering a sigh of relief to the builders and developers in Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh RERA website would enable the builders to get instant registration numbers which is one of the most important steps in promoting and advertising their development projects.
Similar to the allegations made by home buyers in UP, the home buyers in the state of Maharashtra have always appealed to Devendra Fadnavis, the present Chief Minister of Maharashtra and asked him to cancel the RERA rules in the state as they also seem to be diluted. So, in both states, the home buyers are not at all happy with the rules of RERA. However, dissimilar to Uttar Pradesh, why the present Maharashtra government notified the RERA rules that were completely diluted? Nevertheless, the state government in Maharashtra is presently working on developing the MahaRERA website. The government is doing this in the footsteps of the Kerala Government that has its RERA website up but under construction. As per available information, among the 28 states, there are 9 states with notified RERA rules and 7 states with outlined RERA rules. There are a total of 12 states that have still not outlined the RERA rules.
States like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha lag far behind in offering an online platform for RERA like Kerala, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Despite strict orders from the Central Government, RERA does not exist in many Indian states. It has been found that every day, in some or the other Indian state, there are people protesting against the notification of diluted RERA rules.
So what does this signify?
Does it signify the lack of proper coordination between the central government and the state governments?
Are the state governments not taking RERA seriously?
Are the state governments completely trapped in the foyer of property developers?
Does the Central government lack efficiency and professionalism?
Is India still not prepared for RERA?
There are several questions that arise in the minds of individuals post witnessing the failed attempt of the Central government of India in RERA implementation. However, there is one thing for sure and that is if RERA gets implemented in the wisest way possible then that time will not be far away when the real estate sector of India will come up with flying colors of success. This will be the time when investors from several countries will be waiting to make huge investments in the real estate sector of India.