West Bengal governor forwards consumers' plea on housing act to government

Governor KeshariNathTripathy has forwarded the letter from representatives of home buyers demanding the repeal of West Bengal (Housing Industry Regulation) Act, 2017, to state housing department and advised appropriate action on the matter. Forum for People’s Collective Efforts (FPCE), a pan-India home buyers’ association that was earlier known as Fight for RERA, has been remonstrating against the introduction of WBHIRA, a state-specific legislation that was introduced after Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, was passed in Parliament, and questioned the former’s validity. Citing the state’s delay in framing the rules within six months of RERA’s enactment, FPCE president AbhayUpadhyay recounted how the state had introduced a new legislation that diluted at least two RERA provisions. “RERA has been passed by the Parliament, which applies pan-India with the intent to have a uniform law for the sector across the country. It was with this intention in mind that Parliament repealed the Maharashtra Housing (Regulation and Development) Act, 2012 despite it having Presidential assent, and subsequently the Kerala Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2015, on the subject and adopted RERA,” Upadhyay wrote in the letter to Thripathy. While RERA was passed in Parliament in March 2016, the Governor gave his assent to WBHIRA on October 17, 2017.“We feel that the state had failed to duty apprise the Governor of the existence of RERA at the time of seeking assent on WBHIRA,” Upadhyay said.