State is going slow on society conveyance bill ……Nauzer Bharucha
The bill was passed in the assembly in 2005 and received the President’s assent in February 2008. However, there has been little effort to speed up its implementation, allegedly under pressure from developers.
Mumbai: The state government seems to be dragging its feet on implementing a path-breaking bill passed by the legislature that provides for penal action against any builder who does not convey land to the housing society within four months of the society being registered.
According to an estimate, there are more than 60,000 housing societies in the state where builders have not conveyed the land. If the land is not conveyed to the society, then the benefits from any future development on that land will go to the builder and not to the society. This is one of major reasons why the builder is reluctant to hand over the conveyance to the society.
The bill was passed in the state assembly in 2005 and by the upper house (council) in 2007. It also received the Presidents assent in February 2008. But since then, there has been little effort to speed up its implementation allegedly under pressure from developers, according to sources tracking the implementation of this important bill.
According to the bill, a builder has to convey the land within four months after the housing society is registered. If he fails to do so, the society can register a complaint with the designated competent authority, who has to take a decision within six months. If found guilty, the developer faces a jail term up to three years or a fine of Rs 50,000 or both. The builder can also be debarred from construction activity for a period of five years.
However, a Mantralaya official told TOI that matter is pending before chief minister Ashok Chavan, who has still to notify the new rules. After the notification, the government will call for objections and suggestions before it is finally implemented. The official added that with the state elections round the corner, the matter will now be taken up only after the new government comes to power later this year.
In June 2008, the state housing department had issued a notification appointing all district deputy registrars of cooperative societies as competent authorities under the Maharahstra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA) to address grievances of the housing societies.
Since then, more than 100 complaints have been registered, but the district deputy registrars refuse to take any decision on the grounds that the government has not passed the rules yet, said a source.
Interestingly, the state government had formed a committee to frame the rules and submitted its recommendations to the chief minister last month. Developers having been making their own representations to the government on the bill. They find the provisions in the bill too stringent.
Developer Sunil Mantri, who is an office-bearer of the Maharashtra chamber of housing industry (MCHI) said builders have no objection regarding conveyance of land pertaining to a single building. We are only objecting in a cases where there is a large layout, he said. Developers said the bill has been prepared keeping in mind one building or one society but if a developer has a project, which involves 50 buildings, the project completion will take around three to five years. In such cases, a builder is in no position to convey the entire layout immediately.