INDIA. Mumbai: The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) has been able to recover Rs 100.56 crore from 118 developers who defaulted in handing over the possession of flats to home buyers within the stipulated time as per the sale agreement.
In the recent drive, the authority recovered the amount from the developers after issuing recovery warrants to them.
The warrants were executed by the respective district collectors. The maximum number of flat seekers were from Mumbai, Pune, and Raigad.
The recovered amount stood at: Mumbai City: 14 warrants served to recover Rs 44.92 crore (warrants executed: 3, amount recovered: Rs 11.42 crore).
Mumbai suburbs: 343 warrants were served to recover Rs 245.84 crore (warrants executed: 80; amount recovered: Rs 55.57 crore).
Pune: 163 warrants were served to recover Rs 107.93 crore (warrants executed: 33; amount recovered: Rs 32.76 crore).
Raigad: 74 warrants were served to recover Rs 15.10 crore (warrants executed: 2, amount recovered: Rs. 81 lakh).
The amounts were recovered after auctioning the assets of the defaulters under Section 40(1) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 and the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code of 1966.
The MahaRERA has been issuing notices to defaulting developers from time to time, and subsequently, recovery warrants are issued.
However, these warrants have remained unexecuted since 2017, and as of December 2022, the amount of Rs 730 crore remained unrecovered.
Subsequently, an officer of the rank of retired Additional Collector was appointed by MahaRERA to look after this job.
In December last year, the MahaRERA issued 594 warrants to recover Rs 413.79 crore in Mumbai city, Mumbai suburbs, Pune, and Raigad. Of this, an amount of Rs 100.56 was recovered.
The request letters have also been sent to the collectors of Palghar, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Nashik, Chandrapur, Sindhudurg, Satara, and Ratnagiri to recover dues from developers in their respective areas, and action is awaited.
The defaulters include the developers who do not hand over the possession of flats in time and those who leave the projects incomplete. Besides, action is also taken against the developers who carry out the substandard construction.
Based on the complaints of the aggrieved home buyers, a hearing is held by MahaRERA, and the defaulting developers are issued notices to either hand over the possession of flats immediately (as per the sale agreement) or refund the money collected from the home buyers.
If the developers fail to take corrective action, then the amount due is recovered by issuing recovery warrants. The district collectors, deputy collectors, and tehsildars are empowered to take action in this regard.
In another development, MahaRERA has issued notices to 19,539 real estate projects in the state over non-compliance relating to the failure to upload details like financial disclosures, CA certificates, and architect certifications on its website.
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