Local Goa News

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Real estate law left hanging as Goa depts tussle

Panaji: The state government may have shown urgency to clear the Goods and Services Tax Act as quickly as possible, but the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) (RERA) Act, 2016, recently passed by parliament, has failed to attract the same attention. What's worse is that the state government appears clueless on how to implement the much needed reform that will benefit the thousands looking to purchase their own home.

While other states have started the process to set up a Real Estate Regulatory Authority as per the RERA Act, in Goa, the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department, ministry of urban development and panchayats are throwing the ball in each other's court.
RERA seeks to create a set of rights and obligations for developers, including a mandatory rule that developers will now have to set aside 70% of sales proceeds from a project in an Escrow account and get mandatory approvals before launching a project. Any developer, who fails to hand over a project as per the deadline, will have to pay the buyer an interest for the tenure of the delay.
"There are three components that are involved in the implementation; the panchayat, TCP and urban development, especially as municipalities and panchayats are the licensing authorities. As of now we have not started the process and I have not received any details from the Centre either. Frankly, how the regulation will happen or who will implement it, I don't know," deputy chief minister Francis D'Souza said.
Incidentally, D'Souza holds the TCP and urban development portfolio.
"RERA applies to all Goa, not just urban zones. Secondly, in 2010, the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations Act was passed by which TCP supersedes all other laws. Whatever correspondence we received from the Union government we have forwarded to TCP," a senior official with the ministry of urban development said.
As per the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations 2010, the TCP department processes new construction permissions and plans, and looks after other construction activities.
"We were waiting for the department of urban development, but since nothing has taken place, we will take the initiative and begin the work," chief town planner S T Puttaraju said.

TOI Goa News

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