The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has made revenue of nearly Rs 6.50 crore only through complaint filing fees. According to the data available, from the inception of MahaRERA about 13,017 complaints have been made by homebuyers and related stakeholders pleading for relief over the delay of possession of flat as promised by the builder among other reasons. The regulatory authority charges Rs 5,000 against each complaint.
Interestingly, of 13,017 complaints received, the MahaRERA successfully passed orders in 8,867 cases; 68 per cent and 4,150 cases(32 per cent) are in process of hearing. The state real estate regulatory authority has been established to protect the interest of homebuyers and bring transparency in the sector. Any complaint filed in MahaRERA should be disposed off within 60 days time period. Advocate Godfrey Pimenta however stated, "This regulatory authority has been set up to provide justice to distressed homebuyers but when a complaint is registered hearings take a lot of time. For instance, I filed a case of an aggrieved homebuyer in December 2019 and no hearing has taken place in it to date. If this situation continues, the purpose of MahaRERA will forfeit." He asserted the MahaRERA has staff on a contractual basis. "To make all processes faster adequate staff should be recruited. It makes revenue through complaint filing, besides real estate projects and agents registered with RERA also require to pay some fees. Therefore, permanent staff should be taken on board."
As of January 12, a total of 28,015 real estate projects have been registered. Of which, only 23 per cent (6,458 ) projects have been completed. 26,953 are real estate registered agents.
