06 Feb 2023

The Nagpur division of the Bombay High Court has recently raised concerns about the sluggish pace of illegal structure removal in the city. The court directed the three civic bodies - NMC, NIT, and NMRDA - to expedite the process of removal and also called for the police to provide security teams during these operations. The court's directives were made during a hearing for a suo motu public interest lawsuit (PIL No.1/2022), which brought to light that only 227 of the 4,668 unauthorized structures in the city have been demolished since June of the previous year.Read more

02 Feb 2023

The Bengal government is taking steps to modernize a 68-year-old law, The West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955, to allow for commercial and industrial use of government land. In an effort to increase revenue for the state, the government is expected to introduce a bill in the state assembly during the budget session that would offer lifelong possession of land parcels to commercial entities, instead of the previous norm of 99-year leases. The proposed bill is expected to unlock government land for the industry, with the exception of khas land (used for personal cultivation) and land under bargadari.Read more

02 Feb 2023

Earlier last week, the Bombay High Court directed the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) clear out the back log of pending approvals for real estate projects that have been stuck for years due to the deferral of environmental clearance requests by the State authority. The High Court has given the body eight weeks to do the needful, providing much relief to builders and homeowners of these deferred projects. The High Court has directed SEIAA to consider and decide each proposal by applying the provisions of DCPR 2034 or UDCPR and to make a decision on the merits of the proposals.Read more

30 Jan 2023

Earlier last week, the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) stopped Bank of Baroda from auctioning plot of land in Sector 109, Gurugram containing a commercial project by CHD Developers Limited located as several claims of the allottees for the project remain unresolved. The authorities also demanded a forensic analysis of CHD Developers Limited's financial records because the company has been accused of diverting funds intended for the project. The promoters and allottees were informed of the auction through newspaper advertisements.Read more

30 Jan 2023

The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) recently announced revisions to its reconstruction policy last week. A building can now be renovated with only 51% of the housing society members' approval as opposed to the previous 100%. This decision has been made to enable the quicker rehabilitation of existing buildings on CIDCO sites in Mumbai. The rest of the policy's terms and conditions will remain the same.Read more

27 Jan 2023

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP), the governing body in Bengaluru responsible for issuing construction approvals for real estate projects has scrapped the Occupancy Certificate issued to Sobha City, a residential project, on account of the later submitting falsified and fabricated documents to obtain the approval. The urban planning department alleges that the no-objection certificate and clearance certificate that the builder claims to have procured from the fire department in 2013, 2016 and 2019 appear to have been fabricated.Read more

25 Jan 2023

In a recent order released by the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), builders can now apply for an extension of their lapsed projects without the previously mandated 51 percent consent from home buyers in the project. The developer will have to state down reasons for not being able to get the requisite percentage of consent from the buyers and submit the same along with their application for extension. The builder will have to also submit all the achieved consent documents and explanatory notes detailing the specific reasons for why the delay was caused which led to the lapse of the project. The applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.Read more

25 Jan 2023

The central government has proposed several amendments to the current insolvency law regime in a bid to strengthen and quicken the entire process. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) came into effect in 2016 and has since then been amended numerous times to accommodate the changing needs. Suggestions with regard to real estate include distinguishing between defaulted real estate projects and solvent projects, allowing transfer of ownership and possession to the allottees with the consent of the CoC and allowing allottees of a completed unit to request for ownership and possession of a completed unit during a CIRP or a project-specific resolution process.Read more

24 Jan 2023

MahaRERA (Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority) is set to appoint investigators to visit real estate projects starting February, to ensure that developers have not declared higher costs than they actually incurred on the project. Post the visit, investigators will have to submit a report which will include details such as stages of construction, target date of completion approved by RERA, target date set by the developer, and the opinion of the investigators as to when they feel the project can be completed. This move comes after MahaRERA identified 300 large real estate projects (worth over Rs 500 crore each), where a significant amount had been spent but very little work was completed.Read more

23 Jan 2023

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market watchdog, delivered a notice to Sahara Group company Sahara Housing Investment Corporation, its CEO Subrata Roy, and other parties requesting that they pay Rs 6.48 crore within 15 days in a matter involving a violation of regulatory standards. Additionally, if they didn't make the payment, the regulator threatened to attach their assets and bank accounts. The entities were given the notice after they neglected to pay the fine that SEBI had assessed against them earlier in the year.Read more