To prevent fraudulent practices on the part of builders and developers, the Urban Development Department of the Maharashtra government Thursday directed all local bodies to upload permissions granted for commencement of construction and occupancy to builders for new and upcoming residential and commercial projects on their website and integrate them with the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) before March 31, 2023.
These permissions are in the form of Commencement Certificates (CCs) that allow builders to start construction of a building and Occupancy Certificates (OCs) permitting residents to move into the building once the construction is complete.
In case the local bodies do not have websites for this purpose, the Urban Development department directed them to design and activate the websites and integrate them with MahaRERA before March 31, 2023. Meanwhile, all local bodies have been directed to email the permissions to MahaRERA. The local bodies will have to communicate updates in the permissions to RERA each time. A government resolution to the effect was issued by the Urban Development department on Thursday.
“In case of Mumbai, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) already has a mechanism to publish these permissions online and integrate it with RERA,” an official said.
Last year, it had come to light that builders in Kalyan Dombivali constructed buildings without requisite permissions from the local bodies and sold apartments in these buildings by creating fraudulent documents of permission. A senior official said, “These documents are submitted to RERA with a self-declaration from the builder, who submits an affidavit. However, until now, there was no way for RERA to verify if these documents are original. If a fraudulent document is submitted with the signature of the concerned authority, it is taken as an original permission.”
“RERA wrote to the Urban Development department last year requesting it to develop a mechanism where documents can be verified, following which these provisions were made,” the official said.