Thiruvananthapuram: The delay in framing rules has made the much-hyped Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority a powerless body, even as government sources maintained that stringent rules by incorporating the provisions of the new central Act to regulate real estate developers were on the cards.
Though the previous UDF government constituted the authority on the basis of the Kerala Real Estate (Development and Regulation) Act, the rules were yet to the framed.
Local self-government minister K.T. Jaleel said that steps for drafting the new rules were being initiated. “We are trying to frame the rules by considering the provisions of both the central and the state Acts,” Mr. Jaleel told DC.
Meanwhile, there is a strong demand to frame the rules on the basis of the central Act as it contained more stringent provisions to ensure protection to customers than that in the state Act.
While the state Act only brings projects with 1,000- square-metre area or 12 units under its purview, the central law covered even projects with 500-square-metre area or eight units. The state Act only provided for covering new projects under the purview of the Act, whereas the central Act provided for covering even buildings already constructed though issuance of completion certificate was pending. The central Act also provided for up to five years’ warranty for the structural defects of buildings, whereas the state Act only provided only a two-year warranty, sources pointed out.
Social activist and advocate D.B. Binu said that since the central Act was already passed, the rules need to be drafted on the basis of the central Act which prescribed more stringent conditions than the state Act.
Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority chairman S. Ajayakumar said that though the authority had earlier decided to start registration of new buildings, it was later postponed owing to the confusion as the centre also passed an Act.
