Bombay High Court starts hearing constitutional challenges to RERA

The Bombay High Court on Monday began hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA).

A bench of Justices Naresh Patil and Rajesh Ketkar is going to hear the matter on a daily basis.

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Real estate developers including DB Realty, MIG (Bandra) Realtors and Builders alongwith several individual land owners had moved the court.

The petitioners have questioned, among other things, the provisions that mandate that all ongoing projects be registered with the authority set up under the new act, and provide stringent penal action to ensure that projects are completed within fixed time. They have also challenged the provision which says that a plot owner who sells the plot to builder will be considered a co-promoter of the project when it comes to fixing the liability.

The petitions claimed that the Act, and the constitution of a state-level authority for its implementation, were arbitrary, and therefore unconstitutional.

In September, after several petitions challenging RERA were filed in high courts across the country, the Supreme Court stayed the proceedings in other courts and suggested that the Bombay high court hear its RERA cases first.

Other courts should wait for the Bombay High Court's decision before hearing RERA-related matters, it said, while directing the high court here to expedite the hearings.