The real estate regulation bill is in the offing and if
everything goes well the bill may be passed in the Monsoon session of the
parliament. Keeping in mind the last year’s parliamentary proceedings being
disrupted more often than not, the prospects of the bill does not seem very
favouring though it is indeed a encouraging step. In our country,
where real estate sector is highly unregulated and the customers are at the
mercy of developers, mere initiation of the bill might have given a glimmer of
hope to the consumers and home seekers.
After the 1991 reforms, economic scenario in the country has
improved drastically. As the economy was liberalized, it made available the
highly paid jobs to the educated Indians. Therefore, the disposable income in
the hands of middle class strata shot up exponentially. Being financial market
not so established, people resorted to either Gold or real estate property for
investment, hence, increasing the demand for the well-built houses and
properties.
Developers and builders, on the other hand, seeking to
maximize their profit took measures which kept buyers always at disadvantage. For
example, as per the contract, they used to take almost entire money upfront. Though
houses were allotted, constructing them and handing over the flats to customers
easily took around 3-4 years. Much to the dismay of the customers, even if
developers fail to deliver the flats within the stipulated time frame, there was
no mechanism to address their grievances. Even as the demand rose to the
staggeringly high level, developers failed to fulfill the demand as per the
requirement. This led to the demand-supply mismatch and hence sky rocketing prices
of the properties. Another major area of concern is the land at which flats are
being built. In the past there were instances where the flats were being built
over disputed lands. The gap between the contracts being signed between the
parties and the flats being actually delivered is enormously large (ranging from 1-4 years). The buyers are not even aware of what happens after they throw their money in
the project. Neither the developers were held accountable for any discrepancy.
The proposed bill envisages protecting the interests of the
common men. There is the provision for fixing the prices based on the floor
area of the flat instead of smart area (which includes lift space, stairs, garden
etc.). it will help in curbing the out of control prices fixed by the builders.
The bill seeks to penalize those developers who does not deliver the flats on
time hence helping to reduce the demand-supply mismatch. As per provisions of
the bill, the developers ought to deposit the money accrued from a project to a
bank account which will ensure that money for one project cannot be used for
other project without the government consent. Besides, developers need to get
approval from the concerned authority, get license for the land at which they
are planning the project.
Affordable housing has always been a problem not only in
Urban but also in rural areas. To provide affordable housing to the BPL
households, government is running schemes such as Indira Awas Yojana and Rajiv
Awas Yojana for rural and urban areas respectively.
Security of the rights of the citizens be they poor or rich,
is the responsibility of the state. Various schemes as discussed above and now
the proposed bill are few initiatives aimed at protecting the rights of the
common men. Nevertheless, there is more need to be done in this direction. Political
parties must work in unison to get the bill passed as soon as possible. As the
general elections are due in 2014, the bill might be a political propaganda of
the ruling government. Notwithstanding, it must be passed as it is for a great
cause and it will serve the interests of the mass population.
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