1. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013
The real estate sector is largely unregulated. There is lack of standardisation, transparency and consumer protection.
Introduced in August 2013, this Bill deals with residential real estate, and looks into the transactional (buying and selling) aspect of the sector; it aims to bring transparency to the sector, making disclosure of project details mandatory, along with the functions of the promoter. It also aims to provide a speedy grievance redressal mechanism.
The Bill seeks to establish Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs) at the state level. RERAs will aim to ensure consumer protection, standardisation in business practices, and transactions in the real estate sector. Their main functions will include advising governments on development of the sector, and maintaining and publishing records on projects on its website. The Act will include setting up of a Real Estate Appellate Tribunal with powers of a civil court to address consumer grievances.
RERAs will have the power to conduct an inquiry and penalise promoters, allottees, or real estate agents; a promoter can be penalised up to 10 percent of the total cost of the real estate project, and an allottee can be charged up to 10 percent of the total cost of the apartment.
2. The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011
This Bill aims to create a mechanism that will ensure timely delivery of goods and services to citizens. It will make it mandatory for every public authority to publish a citizens’ charter—with details of the goods, services, and timeline for deliveries—within six months of the Bill being cleared.
The authority will then be required to appoint officers to redress grievances within 30 working days. Companies that render services under a statutory obligation or a licence, too, will have to have such charters, and set up redressal mechanisms. Officials who fail to render the service can be penalised up to Rs 50,000.
The Bill will also enable people to file complaints regarding matters mentioned in this charter, functioning of public authorities, violation of laws, policy or scheme, thus creating a grievance redressal mechanism parallel to instruments created by some Central and state laws.
5. The Micro Finance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2012
(This story appears in the 10 January, 2014 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)