Hyderabad: FGG seeks regulatory body for transparency in realty sector

Hyderabad: The Forum for Good Governance on Wednesday demanded Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to direct Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to constitute a Regulatory Authority and Appellate Tribunal for effective functioning of Real Estate Regulatory Authority Act-2016.

The FGG wrote to the Governor stating that the appellate tribunal was necessary for regulation and promotion of real estate sector and to ensure sale of plots, apartments or sale of real estate projects in an efficient and transparent manner and to protect the interests of consumers and to establish an adjudicating mechanism for speedy dispute redressal.

The RERA Act enacted by the Parliament to protect the interests of consumers and to promote the real estate sector besides ensuring transparency and efficiency in selling of plots and apartments has become non-functional due to inaction of the State government to appoint Regulatory Authority and Appellate Tribunal, it said.

It further added that some real estate promoters and agents were not registering with the Regulatory Authority and committing serious irregularities. Though the Act prescribes that no promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell any plot, apartment or building without registering the project with Real Estate Regulatory Authority, violations were taking place and innocent purchasers were being put to great financial loss.

As per Section 20 (1) of the Act, the State government should, within a period of one year from the date of coming into force of the Act, establish a Real Estate Regulatory Authority.

The FGG secretary M Padmanabha Reddy said that appointing an official as authority was a stop gap arrangement for a short period. For the last four years the same person has been acting as designated authority in violation of Section 20 of the Act, which prescribed a maximum of one year period. Until establishment of an Appellate Tribunal, the State government should designate any Appellate Tribunal functioning under the law to be the Appellate Tribunal to hear appeals under this Act. "Government is dragging its feet and has made a paper compliance of RERA Act," alleged the FGG secretary.