According to SC, West Bengal RERA will hear real estate complaints submitted to HIRA.

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Real Estate Regulatory Authority (WBRERA) will now handle all proceedings on complaints that home buyers had brought against developers to the now-defunct West Bengal Housing Industry Regulatory Authority (WBHIRA).

The Supreme Court stated during a special leave petition (SLP) hearing on May 12 that any orders issued by the WBHIRA will also be regarded as legal, albeit anyone who feels wronged by a decision made by the WBHIRA will be free to seek redress before the WBRERA.

Homeowners who had sought remedy from WBHIRA but were left in a bind following the highest court’s repeal of the law will be much relieved by the clarification. Savings in time and money will result from the homeowners not having to start legal actions against unreliable developers all over again as a result of the order.

A Kolkata resident who was having trouble carrying out a decision made by WBHIRA just before it was disbanded in May 2021 filed an SLP with the SC. Since the earlier order on WBRERA had been issued by the top court, the Calcutta High Court had declined to rule on the subject.

In 2013, Saptaparna Ray, an executive at a health insurance company, bought a condo in Rajarhat. The apartment was supposed to arrive in December 2016. But when it was still not delivered in 2019, she moved to WBHIRA and asked the developer for a refund.

WBHIRA approved a refund order in her favor in December of that same year. She then requested the order’s execution, which was postponed in 2020 owing to the epidemic. In March 2021, she finally received the order. The legality of the executive order was called into question, however, when WBHRIA was dissolved as a result of a Supreme Court decision.

“I had petitioned the Calcutta High Court, which stated that since the SC had rendered its decision, the top court would have to clarify if the orders already issued by WBHIRA were still legitimate. I then submitted an SLP,” Ray recalled.

The court of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha has made it clear that all complaints filed with the former authority created under WBHIRA must be forwarded to the authority created under the Central Act, where they will be handled in accordance with the law.

According to the petitioner’s attorney, J Sai Deepak, the court also ordered the authority to move forward with Ray’s order’s execution within a month of the date it received a certified copy of the order.

The clarification, according to Abhay Upadhyay of the Forum for People’s Collective Efforts, will provide relief for all such homebuyers who have already filed complaints with WBHIRA or have received favorable orders. This organization was the one that challenged WBHIRA at the SC, which ultimately declared the law unconstitutional.