Odisha RERA seeks government action on promoter violation
: In an attempt to safeguard the interests of homebuyers,
Odisha Real Estate Regulatory Authority
(
ORERA
) has sought the intervention of the state govt in instructing planning authorities to abide by its provisions which mandates obtaining the consent of two-third of the allottees if any promoter intends to take up any revision work or alteration in a housing project.
The request was made by the authority upon revelation that many promoters have been overlooking this important provision of RERA and fraudulently obtaining approval for revised building plans from the planning authorities. This is resulting in homebuyers being kept in the dark, as they are unaware of the changes being made in the projects they had invested in.
As per the Odisha Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act of 2016, for any alteration or addition in the sanctioned plans, layout plans, and specifications of the buildings or common areas, developers need to obtain the written consent of at least two-third of the allottees, other than the promoter.
In a letter to Usha Padhee, principal secretary to the housing and urban development department, ORERA chairperson (in-charge) Gopal Chandra Patnaik stated that the planning authorities often sanction plans for real estate projects where the project road is constructed on govt land, endowment land, or railway land, which is not permissible by law.
"Recently, we found while issuing a registration certificate for a project, that the planning authorities wrongly approved plans where the land for the approach road to the project passes through land belonging to a third party. This will cause serious problems in the future for homebuyers, and they are likely to be landlocked without access to their project," the letter read.
Patnaik said it is being observed that the planning authorities are not verifying documents regarding obtaining consent of two-third of the allottees in case of any such revision in the building plan by promoters, citing that there is no such provision in the Odisha Development Authority (ODA) Act.
"Needless to say, the RE (R&D) Act, 2016, has overriding effects on the ODA Act. Therefore, the planning authorities have to be suitably instructed to follow the mandatory provision of two-third consent of allottees while giving approval to a revised plan of the real estate projects in the jurisdiction of the development authority," Patnaik wrote.
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