Guj Govt notifies real estate law, dilutes stringent provision

The Gujarat government has notified the third and final set of rules and regulations pertaining to the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act-2016 (RERA).
The Act was passed by Parliament in March 2016 and subsequently came into force from this month.
The state urban housing and urban development department has notified the rules for RERA yesterday through a notification.
"We have notified the third and final set of rules for the RERA yesterday. In the past, we had notified rules pertaining to the establishment of a regulatory authority and appellate tribunal.
"Now, we have notified rules to be followed by the developers" said officer on special duty and ex-officio joint secretary in the department, Neela Munshi.

Clearing the air about the real estate projects to be covered under the Act in Gujarat, Munshi added that the notification clearly mentions that RERA is also applicable to the ongoing projects which have not received completion certificate as on May 1.

Though most of the provisions have been kept in line with the central law, the state government has diluted the key provision regarding punishment to the developer for non-compliance.
As per the central law, the promoter of a project would face up to three years of imprisonment or penalty up to 10 per cent of the project cost, or both, for non compliance.

However, the notification issued yesterday by the state government is having a provision of "compounding of offence", wherein the promoter can escape jail term if he is ready to pay "five per cent of the estimated cost of the real estate project."
As per the notification, promoters need to register themselves with the state regulatory authority by providing various information, such as their PAN card details, title deed of the land, estimated cost of the project and number of open as well as covered parking areas in the real estate project.