Homebuyers' body FPCE seeks national appellate tribunal for real estate similar to NCLAT NGT

New Delhi, Nov 15 (PTI) Homebuyers' body FPCE has demanded that the state real estate regulatory authorities should be made accountable under the RERA law and the government should also set up a national appellate tribunal for protection of consumer rights.

     In a statement on Sunday, the Forum for People's Collective Efforts (FPCE) further pitched for a binding statutory agreement for sale, exit provision to customers with full refund.

     The association said on November 12, a delegation comprising President Abhay Upadhyay and members Ratul Mazumder and Jai Pal Raheja met officials of the Cabinet Secretariat.

     The meeting followed the FPCE letter to the Prime Minister late last month, urging overhaul of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

     The association had demanded that the government should restructure the RERA law, removing the promotion and development of real estate from the law governing homebuyer protection.

     The RERA, which was fully implemented from mid-2017, aims to ensure transparency and accountability in the real estate sector.

     After the letter to the Prime Minister, the association said it got a response from the Cabinet Secretary that their suggestions would be looked into.

     During the meeting with officials in Cabinet Secretariat, the FPCE submitted some more suggestions.

     "Establish a National Appellate Tribunal for Real Estate at Delhi, in place of the State Appellate Tribunals, with statutory appeal lying directly to the Supreme Court," the FPCE has suggested.

     The same provision of a central Act is read differently from state to state, it pointed out.

     "A single appellate forum would build one body of RERA law for the whole country, as the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) have done in their fields," the association said.

     It recommended that the NATRE should hear appeals against the orders of the authority and of the Adjudicating Officers alike.

     To make state RERA authorities accountable, the FPCE suggested that the Act must provide for regular audit of each authority, and independent scrutiny of a sample of its orders.

     The association also suggested that customers should have an exit option from their investments, in case of exigencies like job loss or death of earning member in a family.

     It proposed that cancellation within one year of booking must carry a full refund within one month, and thereafter a refund of the full amount together with interest at the State Bank of India savings account rate.

     "Homebuyers have experienced the real estate sector both before and after RERA. While project registration is an important step, the real measure of the law's success is the protection homebuyers receive in practice. Over the past decade, we have repeatedly raised concerns at the forums available to us because that protection remains inadequate," Upadhyay said.

     In the letter to the PM, the FPCE pointed out that the RERA law in its current form has failed in its objective.

     Diversion of funds, endless delays, one-sided agreements and unenforced orders continue to haunt homebuyers across the country, it had pointed out.

     The association had recommended re-enactment or Renaming of RERA as the 'Real Estate Homebuyer Protection Act'.

     Upadhyay pointed out that various grievances such as mechanical registrations, indiscriminate extensions in the timeline of project completion and unexecuted orders passed by the authorities have remained unaddressed.

     He urged the government to consider a fundamental restructuring of the present legislation.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)