Ex-district judge Ravindra Deshpande appointed as MahaRERA judicial member
Former Osmanabad district judge Ravindra Deshpande has been appointed as the judicial member of Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) to help cope with the backlog of cases.
Mumbai: Former Osmanabad district judge Ravindra Deshpande has been appointed as the judicial member of Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), who took charge after an oath of office by Ajoy Mehta, chairperson, MahaRERA.
Based in Ambejogai in Marathawada, Deshpande completed his B Com degree from Ambejogai and his LLB from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. In 1995, he was appointed as the civil judge and judicial magistrate. He served as the chief judicial magistrate, Yavatmal, as additional chief judge and district judge of district and sessions court, Osmanabad from where he retired in March 2022.
Deshpande’s appointment is seen as an increase in the strength of MahaRERA members adjudicating cases under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) to three and is expected to help the authority cope with the huge backlog of cases before them.
According to the data on the MahaRERA portal, the authority has received 23,514 out of which 22,557 are complaints against registered projects, and orders have been given in 14,901 complaints.
RERA provisions mandate that a complaint is decided, and a ruling is given within 60 days by MahaRERA members, and the aggrieved parties can approach the Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (MREAT) in appeal, and the appeal should also be decided within 60 days. The aggrieved parties can further go to the Bombay high court for their second appeal. However, home buyers and their lawyers have persistently complained that the authority has not been able to adhere to the RERA mandate of 60 days, and complaints have been pending with the authority for more than a year.
When MahaRERA was set up in 2017, former IAS official Gautam Chatterjee served as the first chairperson for a five-year period. Former bureaucrat Vijay Satbir Singh served as the administrative member, and former district judge Bhalchandra Kapadnis served as the judicial member. However, when Kapadnis retired in 2020, the vacancy was not filled. After Chatterjee retired, former IAS officer Ajoy Mehta was appointed in 2021. When Singh retired in 2022, Mahesh Pathak was appointed as the administrative member, while the judicial member’s post remained vacant.
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