Mumbai Grahak Panchayat complains to RERA against Adani Realty for marketing unregistered project

Mumbai Grahak Panchayat complains to RERA against Adani Realty for marketing unregistered project

The housing regulatory authority is yet to give its ruling on the matter

The leading consumer rights protection body Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) has lodged a complaint under the Maharashtra Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 against Adani Realty.

It alleged that Adani was advertising and marketing a luxury housing project on Andheri RTO land without obtaining the mandatory registration.

As per Section 3 of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), "No promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale, or invite persons to purchase in any manner any plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, in any real estate project or part of it, in any planning area, without registering the project with the RERA established under this Act."

Advocate Shirish Deshpande, the chairperson of MGP maintained that the leaflets of the yet unnamed project were being circulated through newspapers with Adani Realty's logo. These had a RERA registration number P51800001290 at the bottom of the advertisement.

Deshpande added, "On cross-checking the registration number on the RERA website, I was shocked to see that it belonged to an old project of the Adani Group at Four Bungalows, Andheri (West). The project is already complete, and the registration has expired."

Meanwhile, Dr. Archana Sabnis, an MGP activist, contacted people through the numbers displayed in the advertisement. She was informed that it was not yet registered with the regulatory authority and the developer was in the process of doing so. However, she discovered that over 4,000 consumers had registered their names for booking in this unregistered project.

MGP has approached Ajoy Mehta, the chairman of RERA, raising strong objections and seeking legal action against Adani Realty for violating the rules.

The violation of Section 3 has stringent penalties. Section 59 empowers RERA to impose a penalty, which can be extended up to 10 percent of the total project cost for a breach. Section 60 provides for penalties that can be extended up to 5 percent of the total project cost for providing false information.

Deshpande stated, "It is the responsibility of the concerned developer, even if a channel partner has done it. MGP has urged the RERA chairperson to impose penalties of 10 percent and 5 percent of the project cost on Adani Realty. It should keep on hold the project registration till its final order."

Meanwhile, Adani Realty has distanced itself from the advertisements.

A company spokesperson remarked, "We have not issued any such advertisements. Our project is in the process of registration. It appears that one of our brokers or channel partners has done this. We have clear guidelines, and a code of conduct for them."

The developer apprises channel partners of the projects registered with RERA. The disclaimer in its guidelines reads: 'If the channel partners choose to advertise any specific project without the company's knowledge, the company reserves the right to initiate appropriate action against them.'

In the past, RERA has fined big developers for violating the provisions for releasing newspaper advertisements without the registration number. The registration of an ongoing project was made mandatory to enable home buyers to transparently verify all details of the project, its approvals, and encumbrances.

The housing regulator has also geo-mapped all ongoing projects. The link given on the registration page of any ongoing project on the RERA portal enables home buyers to view the exact location and trace nearby amenities, including hospitals, schools, and the connectivity to the project.