Developers under scanner for RERA ad rule violations

Pune: The Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) has listed 37 developers from Pune, Mumbai and the Konkan region for allegedly violating MahaRERA rules by advertising housing projects without mentioning the authority’s website and registration number.
The developers also allegedly advertised unregistered projects in violation of the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) norms.With barely three months left for MahaRERA to complete a year since its implementation from May 1, 2017, the consumers’ body said several builders were blatantly violate the rules related to advertising.
Among the builders mentioned by the association, MahaRERA has initiated action against seven, mainly from Mumbai, and slapped penalties between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. Its decision on the rest of the projects, in Pune, Mumbai and Konkan region, are scheduled this week.
MahaRERA penalized the builders for not displaying the registration number and advertising unregistered projects, officials said.
“Last week, we had sent seven names of developers. Again on Friday, we forwarded another list of 30 developers violating the rules, MGP president Shirish Deshpande said.
The MGP has urged the MahaRERA chairman to penalize the developers, who have put up such advertisements, of up to 5% of the project cost. The association wants penalty of 10% of the project cost on builders advertising without registration numbers — a violation of section 3 of the Real Estate Regulation Act.
Besides, MGP has urged MahaRERA to widely publicize through advertisements in the print and electronic media about the obligations of promoters and real estate Agents and the penalties for violation of the condition under RERA to ensure total compliance of the Act in the state.