Homebuyers, who had been promised possession of their home long time back, but the developer failed to keep his promise, are furious because of the exclusion of ongoing projects that are 60 percent complete from Karnataka Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act. There are innumerable sufferers who are yet to get possession but were promised possession a while back. As a result, these homebuyers are ready to challenge the exclusion of ongoing residential projects from RERA.
These homebuyers feel that the government has let them down. The cabinet decision will be challenged on the grounds that it’s against the spirit of federal law. MS Shankar, who is the convenor of Fight for RERA, Karnataka chapter, even believes that the RERA final rules may also exclude those projects for which developers have applied for Occupancy Certificates (OCs) or part completion certificates. Certain developers may also resort to unfair means as there are no clear guidelines so as to determine the stage of completion of a project.
Even though the All India chapter for Fight for RERA may file a petition in the Supreme Court over dilution of rules by various states, the Karnataka chapter may challenge the state cabinet decision separately. There are many who believe that the 60 percent threshold has been fixed mainly to prevent the Karnataka Housing Board and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). Experts think had all projects been brought under RERA, teh Government could have been under lot of pressure to pay huge penalties to house allottees.
It may also have faced a number of litigations from allottees and also land owners in various layouts such as Kempe Gowda layout, reports ET Realty. Builders and developers are however happy with the 60 percent threshold decision for ongoing residential projects. Many believe it is a win-win situation for both homebuyers and developers. If the 60 percent rule was not implemented, all old properties would have become illegal. They have thanked the government for keeping this in mind before making the decision.
Meanwhile, some believe that the RERA should have excluded all projects that have already received commencement certificate. This is because they feel there will be massive differences when it comes to estimating the percentage completion of projects. On the contrary, had the government included all ongoing projects, it would have directly impacted property rates.
