Strictly instruct states to notify RERA in letter and spirit:

A parliamentary panel has asked the Ministry of housing and urban affairs to "strictly instruct" the states which have diluted the rules under the real estate law to either amend it or re-notify them in line with the "letter and spirit" of the Act.
The Committee on Subordinate Legislation, headed by BJP MP Dilipkumar Mansukhlal Gandhi, said that rules notified by some of the states were not in consonance with the spirit of the Act.
It also observed that rules were skewed in favour of builders, hurting the consumer interests particularly in areas like definition of ongoing projects, penalties for non- compliance and dealing with structural defects.

The panel noted that the Ministry had taken up the matter with the states during consultation meetings and also written to them to adhere to the letter and spirit of the Act.
"The Committee are distressed to note that the Ministry have not clearly spelt out the ways and means in this regard.
"The Committee, while recognising that each state have their respective development laws, sanctioning procedures, and other land related unique issues, recommend that the Ministry should strictly instruct the states to either amend their rules or re-notify them in line with the letter and spirit of the Act," the Committee said in its report, tabled in the Lok Sabha today.

The Committee also expressed its "dismay" over the delay in framing of the rules by many states.

The state governments were required to notify the rules by October 31, 2016.
It said, as per the information submitted by the Ministry, only 12 states/UTs had notified the rules, while 16 were in the process of notifying them.
Four states--Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland--had some constitutional issues over land ownership, while three states--Manipur, West Bengal and Goa-- have not provided any information on the notification of the rules under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016.