MahaRERA revokes registration of 15 more projects in KDMC

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has cancelled the registration of 15 more projects in the jurisdiction of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC). The state housing regulator took this step after being informed by the KDMC’s town-planning department that the commencement certificates (CC) for these projects were not issued by them.

On November 21, MahaRERA had scheduled a hearing of the promoters of the projects and sent them notices by email and post to be present. None of the 15 promoters turned up. Taking serious note of their absence, a bench comprising chairperson Ajoy Mehta and member Mahesh Pathak passed an ex-parte order revoking the registration of the projects.

As per Section 4 of RERA, promoters have to submit an authenticated copy of the approvals and commencement certificate from the Competent Authority along with the sanctioned plan, layout plan and specifications of the proposed project during registration with the Authority. However, KDMC’s Assistant Director, Town-Planning, had informed MahaRERA through two letters dated August 17, 2022, and October 17, 2022 that the CCs, which are mandatory while registering projects with the Authority, were not issued by their office, and therefore were obtained by suspect means.

“’In the present case of not obtaining the CCs from the Competent Authority and misrepresenting to this Authority as well as the allottees/home buyers and collecting money through misrepresentation and taking the bookings in the above-mentioned MahaRERA registered projects can be said to be unfair or deceptive practice,” said the order dated November 21 and uploaded today, deeming it to be a fit case for revoking a registration.

The Authority also directed that the promoters of the projects be restrained from marketing or advertising them, and their designated bank accounts associated with the projects be frozen. The authority also urged the urban development secretary to immediately put in place a system whereby all milestone approvals relevant to buyers of homes, such as commencement certificate and occupation certificates, be uploaded on a dedicated portal by the respective Planning Authority so that their veracity could be easily verified by buyers as well as the Authority.

Earlier this month, MahaRERA revoked the registration of 49 projects under the jurisdiction of KDMC on similar grounds through suo moto orders.