State housing regulator allows lawyers to represent litigants in the forum, something that was not possible earlier; decisions of the forum will now have the regulator’s signature
One expert has batted for more benches in each division to speed up conciliations. Representation pic
MahaRERA has brought out a set of norms on homebuyer-developer conciliations, taking cognisance of concerns raised by lawyers who had said that they were not allowed to appear on behalf of litigants in the conciliation forum. Apart from allowing lawyers to represent homebuyers, the forum’s decisions will now be signed by MahaRERA, a move welcomed by experts.
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Dr Vasant Prabhu, Secretary MahaRERA, laid down the procedure via a circular of May 18.
Ramesh Prabhu, founder of MahaSEWA, said, “This will increase the confidence in the process of reconciliation. The best part of this circular is that when the conciliation forum reaches the settlement, the same will be approved by MahaRERA.”
With participation from both sides, Ramesh Prabhu said, it will also encourage practitioners to explore the possibilities of conciliation. “None of the allottees or their representatives would like to fight against builders. The conciliation forum certainly will help them arrive at mutually agreeable terms in writing before the Authority,” said Prabhu.
Advocate Godfrey Pimenta of Watchdog Foundation who also practices in MahaRERA said, “Thanks to mid-day for highlighting the plight of the litigants due to which the MahaRERA Authority has taken due cognisance of the matter with regards to delay in disposal of cases, etc. It is a welcome decision that matters will be taken on seniority basis and that parties can be represented by their respective lawyers.”
'Invalid and Improper'
“The 'MahaRERA Conciliation & Disputes Resolution Forum' established vide Circular No. 31 of 2021, in my view is an invalid and improper body constituted with little or no authority. The circular ex-facie invokes Section 25 and 32 of the RER Act. Section 32 read with sub-clause (g) only contemplates that MahaRERA shall make recommendations to the State Government for facilitating amicable conciliation of disputes, while Section 25 confers general powers of superintendence on the Chairperson. How these seemingly innocuous provisions have been invoked to establish an independent or parallel forum is an issue the higher courts must necessarily examine,” said Advocate Akash Menon, who practises in MahaRERA.
“Assuming for the moment, the validity of such a constitution, the exercise of sending complaints for conciliation, to my mind, appears to be an endeavour to protract what was intended to be an expeditious and homebuyer-friendly process. The RER Act was brought into force with the sole intention of regulating the real estate market and protecting especially the interests of those individuals who pour their life savings into purchasing a house of their dreams. By sending complaints for conciliation, the Authority is only going to end up adding a few months to the resolution process. Especially, in light of Clause (b) of the Circular which says that at a time, only 10 cases will be assigned to a particular conciliation bench. Assuming there are 15 functional Conciliation Benches in Maharashtra, it in effect means that at any given time, you would only have 150 cases that would be assigned for conciliation, leaving the balance cases in a seemingly endless void, suspended between an Authority that has sent the matter for conciliation and a Conciliation Bench that cannot yet take up the matter for hearing for want of assignment,” Menon said.
He added, “Another pertinent point is that complaints made to the Authority can only be sent for conciliation with the consent of parties, and especially that of the Complainant. In most cases, the Complainant would have exhausted the option of an amicable settlement before approaching the Authority for redress. Sending such parties back for conciliation is in many senses a redundant exercise. All in all, while conciliation is a welcome alternative to a prolonged adjudication and execution process, it must not become a tool in the hands of the deviant to delay just recoveries and derail an effective legislation like the RER Act.”
Advocate Anil D’souza batted for more benches saying, “This Institution is poised for exponential growth as both its arms – Regulation and Adjudication – will continue to expand its outreach.”
Litigants (flat purchasers ‘Allottees”) moved their grievances before the Maha RERA, under The Act., because of Section 79 "Bar of Jurisdiction" which states that: “No civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of any matter which the Authority or the adjudicating officer or the Appellate Tribunal is empowered by or under this Act to determine and no injunction shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Act,” explained Advocate D’souza,
‘Builders may get a tool to exploit’
Advocate Vinod Sampat, President of Cooperative Societies Residents Users & Welfare Association, said, “With the number of complaints pouring in, the staff of RERA may not be able to resolve the complaints in months at the conciliation officer level. It can even stretch to years. Till such time, it will be a tool for builders to exploit flat purchasers… The correct way should be that builders should be told to pay compensation to flat purchasers for the period of delay and a similar amount to a welfare fund to be created for the welfare of flat purchasers,” said Sampat.
Citing the interest rates of 21 per cent charged by housing societies on defaulting members and 30 per cent by bank on pending credit card bills, Sampat said, “Who gives money to builders at such a low rate of interest of 13 percent. The penalty of MahaRERA should be increased,” Sampat concluded.
Procedure for conciliation
The following procedure is prescribed for hearing to be conducted by the MahaRERA Conciliation and Disputes Resolution Forum in referred conciliation matters (online complaints) transferred by MahaRERA:
a. Once the complaints are referred to Conciliation Forum by MahaRERA, the office bearers of the Conciliation Forum should first scrutinize the seniority of the said complaints and thereafter keeping its seniority intact, assign/ distribute those complaints to the concerned functional Conciliation Benches. The assignment of not more than 10 complaints can be done at the initial stage.
b. Once the matters are assigned to the bench, the concerned Conciliation bench shall issue notice of first hearing to the parties within a period of one week from the date of receipt of such assignment and the first hearing on such complaints should be conducted at least within 15 days. Only after disposal of the assigned complaints, next lot of 10 complaints can be assigned to the conciliation bench.
c. In referred conciliation complaints all parties will be at liberty to be represented through advocates / authorized representatives, before the Conciliation Forum.
d. In the referred conciliation matters, if the parties arrive at any mutual agreement, in that event, the concerned bench should record the said proceeding in the Roznama and should refer such complaints to MahaRERA within a period of one week together duly with signed conciliation terms. After placing such matters before the MahaRERA and only after passing final order by MahaRERA, the said complaint will be treated as closed/ finally disposed of.
e. If the conciliation between the parties fails, in that event, such complaints be transferred back to MahaRERA within a period of one week for taking appropriate decision on merits.
The aforesaid procedure should be followed scrupulously by the office bearers and all the benches of Conciliation Forum to ensure timely / speedy disposal of complaints assigned to them.
‘This will increase the confidence in the process of reconciliation. The best part of this circular is that when the conciliation forum reaches the settlement, the same will be approved by MahaRERA’
Ramesh Prabhu, CA and founder of MahaSEWA
‘With the number of complaints pouring in, the staff of RERA may not be able to resolve the complaints in months at the conciliation officer level. It can even stretch to years. Till such time, it will be a tool for builders to exploit flat purchasers’
Advocate Vinod Sampat, President of Cooperative Societies Residents Users & Welfare Association
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