Homebuyers can also be imprisoned for RERA violations
Real Estate Regulation Bill empowers regulatory authority and Appellate Tribunal to punish those homebuyers not willing to comply with the norms.
While the Real Estate Regulation Bill, recently passed in the Lok Sabha, has some stringent provisions to punish erring real estate developers, it has also given power to regulatory authority and Appellate Tribunal to punish those homebuyers who are reluctant to comply with the norms.
Section 67 of the RERB says that if any allottee fails to comply with the orders and directions of the real estate regulatory authority, he will be penalised up to 5% of the total cost of his apartment.
Making the punishment more stringent, section 68 states that if a homebuyer fails to comply with the orders and directions of the Appellate Tribunal, he will face a jail term of up to one year or fined up to 10 % of the cost of the project or both.
Any person, whether a builder or a buyer, who is not satisfied with the order of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) can challenge its order by filing an appeal in the Appellate tribunal.
The next appeal against the order of the Appellate Tribunal can be filed in the high court of the respective states.
“Either of the parties, if dissatisfied with the order of the high court, can petition in the Supreme Court. This is the hierarchy of appeal envisaged in the bill. The first complaint will be filed with the regulatory authority and then from there it will go to the Appellate Tribunal, high court and then the Supreme Court of India,” says Aditya Diwan, a Supreme Court lawyer.