New Delhi, February 13 The homebuyers' body, FPCE, said on Friday that many state real estate regulators are not fulfilling their statutory obligation to publish annual reports on a regular basis.
In a statement on Friday, the Forum For People's Collective Efforts (FPCE) pointed out non-compliance with Section 78 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.
"Despite clear statutory obligations and repeated directives from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, more than 75 per cent of State RERA Authorities across India have either never published annual reports, discontinued publication, or are not up to date," FPCE said.
The association demanded that the ministry must issue fresh directions to all RERA authorities to publish annual reports in the prescribed format.
The ministry should urge state governments to use the powers under Sections 82 and 83 of the Act to take strict action against erring authorities.
"A new section should be introduced empowering the central government to remove any authority or its members if central government directions are not obeyed," FPCE said.
The association argued that the annual report data is not only vital for homebuyers to assess system credibility, but is equally necessary for both state and central governments to frame effective policies, design incentivisation schemes, and develop tax policy frameworks.
"Unless we have credible data proving that after RERA the sector has improved in terms of delivery, fairness, and keeping its promises, we are merely firing in the air," FPCE President Abhay Upadhyay said.
"Innocent homebuyers will continue to be exploited – this time aided by RERA, which has become a mere badge of honour for builders to sell projects without any consequent responsibility to honour the provisions of the Act," he added.
Seven major states (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Goa) have never published a single annual report since RERA's implementation, the association said.
Nine states, which initially published reports, have discontinued publication (including major markets like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana), FPCE added.