Bihar sits over Centre bid to regulate real estate

The Centre’s bid to ameliorate the sufferings of home buyers by enacting the real estate (regulation and development) act, 2016, is stuck up in bureaucratic red tape, so far as Bihar is concerned.. 

With a view to developing a mechanism to regulate the real estate sector, the Centre had, in March last year, enacted the legislation to save unsuspecting consumers from uncalled for harassment caused to them by builders. 

While many states have framed rules in accordance with the model supplied to them by the Centre, Bihar is yet to act on it.

“We are discussing it. It is very complicated. It may take some time to come out with suitable norms to implement the Act,” said principal secretary of urban development department Chaitanya Prasad. 

Waking up to common grievances of consumers against builders, the Central government had enacted the real estate Act, envisaging constitution of authorities to settle real estate sector cases. The Act is set to come into force from May 1 this year. However, the states first need to decide on specific protocols as land laws fall in their domain. 

The new legislation lays down redressal mechanisms for consumers in cases such as delayed delivery of flats, a problem that has blighted a largely unregulated sector. “The consumers at present have to take recourse to courts if they feel cheated by the builders,” said a former town planner of the erstwhile Patna Regional Development Authority (PRDA). 

Former vice president of Builders Association of India (BAI) Manikant exuded confidence that the Act would restore people’s confidence in the beleaguered real estate sector in a state like Bihar. “With norms and regulatory body in place, investors will have confidence of getting returns on their investments,” he said. 

So far, the rules have been notified by only four states - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. The Centre has notified rules for six Union Territories, including Delhi.