Pendency of suits cannot be reason to avoid registrations: REAT

 GUWAHATI: The mere pendency of civil suits cannot act as a legal bar to the registration of real estate projects. The Assam Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (REAT) observed this today while dismissing an appeal filed by a builder against a judgement delivered by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Assam.

In this case, the RERA had imposed a penalty of Rs 20 lakh on the builder for not registering his project, which consisted of 252 flats. As per Sub-Section (1) of Section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, a builder cannot advertise, market, book, sell, or offer for sale any plot, apartment, or building in any real estate project without first registering the project with the RERA.

In the instant case, as per the builder’s own admission, the construction commenced on April 3, 2018, and out of the proposed 252 flats, as many as 106 persons had already made an advance, amounting to Rs. 14 crore. The builder did this without first registering the project, which was mandatory, and thus violated Subsection (1) of Section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

The builder argued before the Tribunal that the project itself had been entangled in various civil suits with landowners since 2018 and that its fate was uncertain. Rejecting the argument as utterly irrelevant and misconceived, the Tribunal observed that the mere pendency of civil suits cannot act as a legal bar to Complying with the statutory provisions of Section 3 of the Act.

Dismissing the appeal, the Assam REAT asked the builder to deposit the entire amount with the Assam RERA within three weeks. The order was passed by Justice (Retd.) Manojit Bhuyan, Chairperson, and Onkar Kedia, Member, Assam REAT., stated a press release.

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