Over 10,000 projects “under investigation” for evading RERA notices in Karnataka

Bengaluru: Real estate authorities in Karnataka are in a tight spot as more than 1,000 projects have not been registered with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and their proponents are not responding to repeated notices. The Karnataka-RERA secretary earlier this week asked the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) to smoothen the registration process of unregistered projects by pushing promoters/developers to appear before the authority.

1,076 projects being investigated

The RERA identified 1,076 projects "under investigation" for not being registered with the body. The authority's secretary said the projects' proponents have not just responded to the notices, but they have been unable to explain the reason for not registering with RERA as per the provisions. Most of these projects are in Bengaluru.

"Despite the issuance of several notices by RERA, only a few promoters have come forward and registered and a very few promoters have submitted their explanation claiming exemption under the provisions of the Act and rule but have failed to produce relevant documents before the authority," RERA secretary Latha Kumari KS said.

CREDAI vice president Suresh Hari wrote in response: "All CREDAI members have registered under RERA and it is only the small builders who are out of the Confederation who have stayed out. So there is nothing that we can do to get them registered."

Activists seeking an effective RERA implementation have questioned RERA for not taking action against these projects "under investigation."

"RERA can verify the plan approval sanctioned to projects that are under the scanner. They can even freeze their bank accounts," said MS Shankar, a RERA activist and the secretary of Fight for RERA-Forum for People's Collective Efforts.