More than 67 per cent (11,450) of the total 17,089 complaints received as of Sunday have been disposed of, according to the MahaRERA. The remaining 33 per cent (5639) complaints are in the hearing stage.
Chairperson of Housing and RERA Committee of Builders Association of India (BAI), Anand Gupta said MahaRERA has been doing a substantially good job in terms of addressing the complaints. "They have taken initiatives such as a reconciliation forum which gives complainants and developers the option to settle their disputes before the hearing commences and they can opt for the hearing process if a settlement is not reached. Besides, MahaRERA, from the last one and half months, has started with Friday meetings where discussions on various issues take place.” Gupta added that these strategies have helped dispose of the complaints. In fact, other state RERA bodies are also following MahaRERA's footsteps
Meanwhile, other experts stated that the passing of orders mostly remains on paper, while their execution has been a major problem. Ramesh Prabhu, chairman of the Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association (MahaSeWA) said, "Along the lines of Gujarat and the Rajasthan Real Estate Regulatory Authority, the MahaRERA should set up a recovery wing. This will ensure that the execution of orders will be done by MahaRERA only. At present, one has to complain to the MahaRera about orders not being carried out and the authority, in turn, issues a recovery warrant through the collector's office. The compliance process is lengthy and needs attention for improvement."
Another activist, advocate Sulaiman Bhimani, who is also president of the citizen's justice forum, said, MahaRERA is a toothless tiger. “The orders passed by MahaRERA are just pieces of paper. It just gives temporary satisfaction to the complainant. Also, in the reconciliation forum, there are developers who are the representatives. Astonishingly, these developers are themselves the violators whose properties have been attached,” he alleged.
