RERA's Zoomed Focus on Structural Safety
The Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA) has risen to full action ever since an unfortunate incident of a partial collapse of a residential tower in Gurugram has unfolded, primarily due to the negligence in terms of authority. It is important for us to know that it is not the only incident and newspapers are filled with such news on a regular basis.. However, after this recent incident that occurred in Gurugram, the Central Advisory Council constituted under the RERA Act 2016 had decided to meet in the mid April wherein multiple rules and regulations regarding the safety of the buildings in construction has to be ensured. This will not only lead to prevention of loss of life as well as property, but will also help the government to ensure that all the upcoming projects also uphold the highest standards of quality and service.
In this scheduled meeting, multiple factors that lead to such massive negligence had been discussed. It is also expected that the notable people present in the meeting are supposed to talk about factors that could lead to such unfortunate incidents in the times to come. The President of Forum for Peoples Collective Efforts (FPEC) appreciates and encourages such meetings and says that this meeting was a marker of how stringent RERA is when it comes to formulating and implementing laws and nobody can take it for granted. It is also expected that some resolutions for incomplete legacy stalled projects will also be provided. No wonder, this meeting will unfold and address many loopholes in the process. It also has to be discussed that on what parameters should the permission to create and pass the laws be solicited as well as granted.
For such an important and relevant issue, around 30 members had gatheree together on 12th April 2022. These 30 members included Niti Aayog's CEO Amitabh Kant and secretaries of many ministries. It has been speculated that the Council is not going to neglect or ignore the loopholes in the administration process and is bound to punish the people who take the laws for a toss. Moreover, news guidelines will also be discussed in this meeting that can prove very fruitful in the times to come. Some insiders have also suggested that some rules can be modified and some new guidelines can be introduced so that the stature of RERA can be further strengthened. There's certainly no doubt about the fact that eventually everything is for the welfare of the community and society and fruitful results will soon be reflected.
One might wonder what exactly can be done by RERA to ensure that people do not take it lightly. First of all, a team shall be set up which will do the physical inspection of the projects in construction. Furthermore, a structural audit by respectable institutes on regular intervals will be conducted. It will also be a wise idea for the promoter to declare structural safety before applying for Completion or Occupancy certificate. Even if these guidelines are taken into consideration before proceeding with any of the projects, be it residential or commercial, people's lives as well as properties can be saved from incurring lasting harms. Obviously, it is being done keeping everyone's best interest in mind.
The fact that this meeting can prove to be extremely substantial is not debatable at all! After all, some prominent representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Sector's Experts (dealing with stalled projects and insolvency proceedings) shall be present in this meeting. The proposals made in this meeting shall be further recommended to the central government and if considered applicable at Central level, one can also expect some fundamental changes in the constitution of the guidelines with respect to RERA.
To summarize, one can hope that such meetings will certainly ensure that RERA will become more effective and more reliable in the times to come. The best thing about this CAC meeting is that the ministry has accepted the council's suggestion to livestream the proceedings of this meeting on all the social media platforms. It is being done to ensure complete transparency of the process. Since everybody is somehow affected with the changed policies, it is natural to include as many people as one can. Certainly, it is also expected from all the stakeholders to take the law more seriously. And eventually, the suffering homebuyers had also got some relief. Everybody associated with the domain of the Real Estate sector has therefore benefitted a lot from this meeting as some monumental decisions had been made there. The focus was principally on people's safety and the safety of their assets.
