Some relief for Karnataka developers
The Karnataka state government may go easy on penalties on developers who failed to register their ongoing projects under the Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) before the deadline which ended on 31st July. According to housing secretary Kapil Mohan, the state government has decided to be lenient to builders who come forward to register over next few days. There is no legal provision to extend the deadline unless the central government decides to do so and hence, the state government has decided to be sympathetic towards builders who come and register in next few days. This decision has come as a relief for the builders. With the website opening for online registrations only on July 24, many realtors were unable to complete the process by Monday, leaving them anxious about the fate of their projects. However, the state government decided to come up with a practical solution on Tuesday. Kapil Mohan, who also heads the appellate authority of Karnataka RERA, said that the government has come out with plans to help people (developers) with helpdesks and outreach programmes. “We have decided to issue notice to all developers who have not registered and make them fall in line. There is no way we can extend the deadline,’’ he added. By Monday midnight, developers of about 700-odd ongoing projects and property brokers in the state applied for registration with the Authority. The number of applications for ongoing projects was expected to be around 2,000, when the deadline ended on Monday night, an official at the Authority said, referring to the proposed suo motu action. After a couple of days, Karnataka RERA will initiate suo motu action on property developers whose ongoing projects have not been registered even after the July 31 deadline. According to Section 59(1) of the RERA Act, a promoter who contravenes the provision of Section 3 – dealing with registration, selling and marketing of new and ongoing projects for which the completion certificate has not been issued -- will be liable to pay penalty up to 10% of the project’s estimated cost as determined by the authority.
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