Rera takes up 60 complaints , Responses Likely in 1-2 weeks
The newly-constituted H-Rera has informed it has heard 60 complaints by homebuyers on April 10 and April 12 during the past week. The authority has given 1-2 weeks as time for respondents to file their replies. It has also declared it will conduct hearings on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week.
H-Rera (Gurugram), which became functional on February 4, conducted its first hearing on March 27, when it imposed a Rs 30 lakh penalty on a developer, who advertised its real estate project in collaboration with a Japanese company even before it had registered the project with the authority.
“At the hearings, most respondents sought 1-2 weeks time to file their replies,” said H-Rera (Gurugram) chairman K K Khandelwal, adding the authority will pass its order if they fail to file satisfactory replies within the stipulated time. He also said H-Rera hopes to dispose complaints within 60 days of their first hearing. Khandelwal said the Indo-Japanese real-estate firm, which was fined Rs 30 lakh for advertising before registering the project with H-Rera, “has deposited the penalty”.
Till now, H-Rera has registered 150 complaints, mostly related to delay in delivery of possession and home buyers seeking refund. In most cases where homebuyers are seeking refund, they are demanding interest on the deposit, as developer failed to deliver the project. Numerous real-estate projects are running behind schedule, and in some cases, work hasn’t even started, although the developer has already collected most of the due payment from buyers. Khandelwal said hearings have just started and are at initial stage.
“With a 60-day deadline, decisions on the complaints are expected in May or June,” said Khandelwal, adding any party unhappy with H-Rera’s decision can further approach a tribunal and then the high court.
For redress of systematic grievances, H-Rera has prepared a standard format for filing complaints. “With awareness about the process improving, complaints are now being filed in the proper format,” said Khandelwal. Elaborating further, he said one should register their complaint on the authority’s website before filing its hard copy in prescribed format before the authority. “After registering a complaint on the website, a complainant will have to file it before the authority in person, with sequence of events, brief facts, issues to be decided and relief sought all included in the proper format,” he said, adding once filed, the office will give each complaint a registration number, which will be the order in which the complaint will be taken up for hearing.
After registering complaints, authority issues notices to the respondents, giving them up to 21 days to reply, before scheduling the first hearing. Respondents have to file a detailed point-wise response to issues raised by the complainant.
Source : TOI