News: H-RERA purview extends even to occupancy certificates before Act, says HC-04-05-2022
Division bench comprising Justice Amol Rattan Singh and Justice Lalit Batra of the HC has passed these orders while hearing a petition filed by Experion Developers Private Limited.
CHANDIG ARH : In a significant order having ramificatio ns in the realty sector, the Punjab and Haryana high court has made it clear that merely obtaining of an occupancy certificate by builders pertaining to a housing project before the commencement of Rera Act, will not render them to be outside the purview of the jurisdiction of the state real estate regulatory authority (Rera).
“In our opinion, there being a difference carved out in the Act itself as to what is a completion certificate and an occupancy certificate, unless the petitioner had obtained a completion certificate for the project in question, prior to the date that Section 3 of Act came into effect, i.e. May 1, 2017, it was necessarily required to get itself registered with the respondent authority. But with a completion certificate still not having been obtained, simply obtaining of an occupancy certificate or having applied for such certificate in terms of the Haryana Building Code, 2017, we would not consider the petitioner to be outside the purview of the jurisdiction of the Rera,” HC has held.
Division bench comprising Justice Amol Rattan Singh and Justice Lalit Batra of the HC has passed these orders while hearing a petition filed by Experion Developers Private Limited.
The petitioner company had sought directions for setting aside the proceedings pending before the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (H-Rera), Gurugram, in a complaint case. Further directions were also sought to quash the orders dated October 22, 2021 and February 22, 2022 and to restrain H-Rera from acting in contravention of the provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.
The main contention of the petitioner company was regarding the jurisdiction of the authority to pass the orders, with the contention being that the petitioner having received an occupancy certificate in respect of at least that part of the project on March 2, 2017, and the Rera Act having come into effect only from May 1, 2017, the project has to be treated to be a completed project and therefore there was no requirement for even registration of the project by the petitioner with the authority in terms of Section 3 of the Rera Act.
The argument therefore was that the petitioner having already applied for and obtained an occupation certificate as referred to above in terms of the Haryana Building Code, 2017, prior to May 1, 2017, there was no requirement at all to get itself registered with the Rera, it thereby being outside the purview of its jurisdiction. Responding to the plea, the counsel representing H-Rera
argued that with the petitioner having obtained only an occupancy certificate and not a completion certificate, necessarily it was required to get its project registered and therefore the jurisdiction of the authority was very much existent qua the project.
