The Gujarat Real Estate Authority imposed a fine for ₹ 6 lakh on a real estate firm over its three projects in Gandhinagar not properly mentioning the RERA registration number on its website address.
As per the case details, the RERA took up suo motu case against the Kavyaratna group, the promoter of the development projects in Gandhinagar. It came to the notice of the RERA that the group has launched three projects namely Sanskruti, Shrusti and Nakshtra in Gandhinagar. When officials visited the site, the address of the official website was not mentioned on the advertisement hoardings at the spot and the registration number given by RERA was shown in very small fonts. This was deemed as the promoter violating RERA’s circular on the issue and also section 11(2) of RERA Act.
RERA bench headed by chairman Amarjit Singh issued a show-cause notice to the builder to explain why fine should not be imposed for violating RERA norms and asked him to remain present on May 10. Smit Patel, promoter of the group, appeared before the bench and assured that henceforth he will take care that such rules are complied with.
However, the RERA was not impressed with the assurance and decided to impose a fine. It noted that the highest possible 5% fine of the project cost can be imposed on the promoter in case of such violations. Sanskruti project is worth ₹ 167 crore, Shrusti ₹ 102 crore and Nakshtra worth ₹ 52 crore. “We are not going to impose the highest fine of 5% of the project cost, but a fine of ₹ 2 lakh for each project is imposed in the case,” the bench noted in its order.
The bench clarified that the promoter should deposit the amount of fine from his own pocket and not from the bank account of the project.
Meanwhile, RERA experts opined that builders should strictly follow the norms, and at the same time the authority should impose only a symbolic fine. “RERA norms have been introduced by the government to bring accountability and transparency in the real estate sector, and the sector has witnessed tremendous improvement after their introduction. Such a mistake can be a human error done inadvertently and the authority may impose a symbolic fine. Hefty fines needed only in case of serious breaches,” said Mahadev Birla, state president of the RERA Practitioners Welfare Association.
Source: https://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/suo-motu-case-against-kavyaratna-group/81832558.html