The Telangana high court sought clarity from state and central governments on how they plan to prevent builders whose building permits were obtained prior to the introduction of the RERA Act.

HC Seek Clarification on RERA Building Permits 

On Friday, November 6, the Telangana high court issued notices to the state and central governments asking them to explain within four weeks how they plan to tackle alleged builders whose building permits were obtained before the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA ) came into force.

A plea filed by two petitioners was heard by Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy's bench challenging some of the state government's rules that excluded real estate projects which already obtained permits from RERA before January 1, 2017.

The judges gave the principal secretary of the municipal administration and the law secretary of the Centre four weeks to explain and clarify the objections presented in the petition.

K Lakshmi Narasimha, the petitioner's attorney, said RERA's main objective was to protect home buyers from any troubles between market forces and errant builders.  However, the exception provided to pre-2017 projects affects those buyers who are still waiting to get their flats delivered to them.

He stated it applies to all projects, both present and past, pointing out that RERA Act is a Key Act falling under the concurrent list. In compliance with the Act, states were granted powers to frame laws.

By: Shailaja K