Since the enactment of real estate regulation law, RERA, and establishment of regulatory authorities across states, a total of 67,313 projects have been registered in the country , 46% of them in Maharashtra alone. The western state also leads the list so far as registration of property agents is concerned while Uttar Pradesh tops among states in several complaints disposed of by regulators.
Official data till July 10 show that 31,221 projects have been registered with the RERA in Maharashtra, followed by 8,685 in Gujarat. Karnataka has the third maximum number of projects registered with RERA at 4,151. The UP RERA has registered 3,033 projects and the tally in Madhya Pradesh is 3,659.
So far as the registration of real estate agents or property dealers is concerned, out of the total 51,895 registrations across states, Maharashtra alone has registered 29,995 of them. In UP, 4,579 such agents have been registered while Delhi has registered barely 389 agents.
The data also shows that so far 70,001 complaints have been resolved by the regulators with two benches of UP RERA leading the list having disposed of 27,825 complaints. Haryana, which has also set up two benches, has reported disposal of 14,591 complaints, followed by Maharashtra where 10,043 complaints have been resolved.
Abhay Upadhyay, who heads the Forum for People’s Collective Efforts (FPCE), a group that campaigned for the enactment of the RERA, said, “Merely tracking the number of projects registered under RERA is not of much significance especially after five years. We need to seek data like the number of projects completed within the scheduled date as per registration, number of projects granted an extension and completed within an extended period, number of projects delayed beyond one year from original scheduled completion and number of projects for which registration expired and extension also not sought by the promoter to assess the real success and effectiveness of RERA.”
He added similarly, the number of complaints disposed of by RERA authorities is of not much importance. To gauge the effectiveness of RERA, there is a need to know how many promoters have obeyed the orders of RERA, Upadhyay said.
“The RERA Authorities must disclose the number of refund orders passed by them and an actual number of refunds received by the complainants. On the same lines, they also must disclose how many promoters have obeyed their orders about handover, completion of facilities and amenities and lastly how many have paid penalty if any levied. Till such details are made available by the authorities, the actual impact of RERA cannot be gauged,” he said.