Can a complaint be filed against a Promoter under RERA where time limit for filing such a complaint is lapsed?

[2021] 132 taxmann.com 152 (Article)

The Real Estate Sector is one of the most lucrative investment avenues for investors/home buyers in India and the statistics say it all. According to the Rajya Sabha debate on Real Estate Bill, 2015 it was informed that About 10 lakh people buy houses every year with an investment of about Rs. 13.5 lakh crores. Information made available for 27 major cities, including 15 Capital cities showed that 2349 to 4488 new housing projects were launched every year between 2011 and 2015. In 27 cities, during the last five years, a total investment value was Rs. 13,69,820 crores.

The schemes proposed for various projects by Builders/developers can allure almost every small investor. It might so happen that the project is not delivered to the buyers as per the promises made by the builders. Pre-enactment of the RERA Act, the buyers were not granted timely justice in various cases. At times, it may take years for a common buyer to get justice if the units of the project are not delivered as promised made by the builder. After the enactment of RERA, the situation is changing and the aggrieved buyers are getting fair and timely justice if they file a complaint with the RERA authority for failure or non-compliance of the builder. It is also to be noted that after the enactment of the RERA Act, various complications emerged for ongoing projects. One of the complexities evolved is “If an aggrieved buyer has already filed a complaint under other Act before RERA was made applicable then whether such buyer can file a complaint before RERA Authority? and whether the RERA authority can interfere/entertain the complaint filed by such buyers? Section 89 of the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, 2016 plays an important role to address such a question as it prescribes that RERA Act is an overriding effect on other laws. Section 89 is read as ‘The provisions of this Act shall have an effect, notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force

Recently, the issue was addressed by the Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal in the case of Siddhitech Homes (P.) Ltd., Hemant Mohan Agarwal & Vidhii Partners (Appellants) v. Karanveer Singh Sachdev, DHFL Property Services Limited (Res. No. 2) & Kanayalal Vidhani (Res. No. 3) (Respondents), decision dated 29th October 2021.

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