The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 was enacted for regulation and promotion of real estate sector in India. One of the main purposes of this Act is to protect the interest of the buyers who have invested in real estate properties and have grievances so as to delay possession of their properties for which it has established adjudicating mechanism for speedy dispute redressal.
On the other hand one can also file an FIR or approach the civil court but such person is always left in lurch as there is no specific remedy and also it is a tedious process in itself. For instance when a person files a complaint with Police, after primary investigation a F.I.R is lodged after which charge sheet is prepared and is filed with the court, the whole process from the stage of complaint till the remedy is without any time cap and the aggrieved homebuyer has to suffer for years in order to get justice.
Now the question that arises is whom should the homebuyer approach? The best answer to this question is RERA. RERA authority and adjudicating officer can hear complaints with respect to real estate projects, therefore a complaint can be filed before the authority irrespective of the claim amount. Since this is a dedicated Authority for cases for this particular sector only, the speed and rate of disposal of cases could be significantly faster than any civil court.
Difference between RERA and FIR
| Issues |
RERA (The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016) |
F.I.R (First Information Report) |
| Type | Civil | Criminal |
| Place of filing complaint | To be filed with the RERA authority. | To be filed with the police at the place of registered office of the builder. |
| Manner to file a complaint | Specific forms are mentioned in the act, apart from documentary evidence. | No specific format. |
| Time period for disposal | Speedy disposal | No specific time period |
| Relief | Two kind of Relief as per section 18 of the Act
|
Builder will be arrested but it will tried by the criminal court by the concerned state. |
In the light of above it can be inferred that the Real Estate (regulation & Development) Act, 2016, has edge over all the existing legal recourse and remedies. And in any case the RERA laws gives the appropriate measures to get the redressal of the grievances of the aggrieved home-buyers.
Disclaimer – Please note that the above articles is based on the interpretation of related laws and judicial pronouncement which may differ from person to person. The reader are expected to take the expert opinion on the matter.
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