Structural Safety Certificate From Project Engineer Needs to be Made Mandatory: CAC

 After the partial collapse of a residential building in Gurugram, the top central advisory body on Tuesday pitched to make it mandatory to obtain structural safety certificates from the promoter of the project and the site engineer to seek the completion certification. 

The third meeting of the Central Advisory Council (CAC), constituted under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, called ‘RERA’, was held recently under the chairmanship of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri.

 There are 30 members on the CAC panel, including Aayog CEO and secretaries of many ministries. President of homebuyers’ body Forum for People’s Collective Efforts Abhay Upadhyay and presidents of realtors’ body CREDAI and Naredco are members of the council.

What was Discussed in the CAC Meeting?

After hours of discussion, many decisions were taken by the CAC. The official CAC statement said – “Regarding the issue of structural safety of projects, it was decided that the development authorities may ask for a structural safety certificate from site engineer and promoter when applying for a completion certificate.“

It was decided to take the matter with state governments regarding forthcoming projects. 

During the meeting, measures to ensure structural safety in high-rise buildings and prevent loss of life and property, besides considering a proposal to set up a high-level panel to address the issue of stalled projects, were discussed. 

While discussing the recent collapse, Minister Puri highlighted that the homebuyers should have a sense of confidence that a building is structurally sound. The responsibility has to be assumed by the builders themselves. If the builder has gone wrong or has not been able to check something, full recovery from that person is the minimum, as thousands of people get affected.

Mr. Puri further asserted that there should be no dilution of the provisions of RERA law by states and assured that the Centre would not bring the “whole template down” even in case some states decide to dilute the norms. He recognized that RERA is a widely accepted legislation, and its success is anchored in the spirit of gradual but steady problem-solving.

 States’ Negligence in RERA’s implementation

Meanwhile, it was pointed out that some states have tweaked the provisions of RERA while framing rules under the Act by exempting the registration of ‘ongoing projects’ In February, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to examine whether the rules framed by various states under the RERA conform to the central legislation and subserve the interest of homebuyers.

MoHUA minister Puri  “The fact of the matter is that you did not have a regulator, and then you are bringing in the regulator, so everybody will try to stop it. When they found that we are resolute in our determination and they tried to do something else, states tried to tweak it.”

The minister said the Centre would place before the Supreme Court all the facts related to the dilution of the RERA Act by the state governments. 

“I think we should place the fact squarely before the apex court that if all of us agree and any state does dilution of RERA, we have enough persuasive power at our disposal to tell them this is not right. No dilution is a norm. Those who have diluted will have to justify why they have diluted. And we will not bring the whole template down just because you have diluted it” Mr. Puri added.

Status of Various States in RERA Implementation

As many as 31 states & UTs have set up Real Estate Regulatory Authority. Out of these 25 of them have regular bodies & 6 of them still have an interim body. States like Meghalaya, Sikkim, West Bengal, and the UT of Ladakh are yet to establish the authority. In the meeting, it was also highlighted that all states/UTs had notified rules under RERA, except Nagaland, which is in the process of notifying the rules

Despite the lags in states’ approaches, MoHUA minister Puri also said that “The best thing about RERA is that it has become widely accepted. And its success is anchored in the spirit of gradual & steady problem-solving.” 

It was decided that action should be taken to ensure the implementation of RERA in letter and spirit by establishing permanent regulatory authorities and appellate tribunals across the country.

Lastly

According to an official statement, it was decided that the meeting of the Council shall be held at least once a year. A subgroup consisting of concerned stakeholders should meet once in six months. There should be a detailed examination of reasons behind the non-implementation of orders passed by regulatory authorities/adjudicating officers regarding refund, penalty, compensation, etc.

 The CAC decided that a committee can be constituted to look into various aspects of the legacy stalled projects and propose a future course of action to ensure that homebuyers get their booked home. The CAC decided that the registration of real estate agents should be on a pan-India basis.

MoHUA reiterated the resolve and commitment of the government of India to protect the interest of all homebuyers and ensure continued transparency and accountability in the real estate sector through the effective implementation of RERA.

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