MahaRERA names special officer to manage recoveries from errant builders

Mumbai: Five and a half years after it took shape, the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has appointed a dedicated member to follow up on its warrants issued against developers for irregularities and recoveries.

Retired Additional Collector Anant Dinkarrao Dahiphale has been appointed to take action on the warrants, follow up and manage the cases in regular coordination with the respective district collector’s offices.

MahaRERA has so far issued 733 warrants to the tune of Rs729.68 crore against developers in 13 of the 36 district collectorates in the state.

The intervention of the collectors has been sought in Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban, Thane, Pune, Raigad, Palghar, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Nashik, Chandrapur, Sindhudurg, Satara and Ratnagiri districts, data from the regulator show.

Delayed possession is among the commonest complaints filed by home buyers with MahaRERA. Another common grievance is the property owner wanting to withdraw the amount paid to the developer and projects being stalled.

With builders often defying MahaRERA orders, the body has been likened to a toothless tiger.

Execution of MahaRERA orders has been a challenge since its inception on May 1, 2017. Once an order is delivered, the aggrieved person has to wait for the mandated number of days for the opposite side to comply. If there is no compliance, the person in whose favour the order is issued has to move MahaRERA again. MahaRERA then issues a recovery warrant to the collector. The collector then initiates the process to take possession of the property for auction.

The whole process is cumbersome and buyers and the legal fraternity believe the problem needs an urgent look. For instance, petitions moved in the first quarter of this calendar year are yet to be heard by MahaRERA, despite the law stipulating three months to dispose of such matters.

Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association (MahaSeWa) Vice-President Parthasarathy Sundararajan said, “Of the entire number of recovery warrants issued, about 50% involve projects that have been stalled for years. It is only in the rest that the developers are defying the orders. There have been multiple successful instances of recovery as well. But it is advisable to have a few people dedicated to following up with the collector’s office and expediting the process.”

Advocate Mustafa Kanchwala said more hands are required to expedite the recovery process at MahaRERA.