Amid a public outcry over partial collapse of a residential building in Gurugram, a top central advisory body on Tuesday pitched for making it mandatory to obtain structural safety certificates from the promoter of the project and the site engineer for seeking the completion certification.
The third meeting of the Central Advisory Council (CAC), constituted under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, called as RERA, was held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
After detailed discussions, many decisions were taken by the CAC.
"Regarding issue of structural safety of projects, it was decided that the development authorities may ask for structural safety certificate from site engineer and promoter at the time of applying for completion certificate," the statement said.
It was decided to take the matter with state governments in respect of forthcoming projects.
During the meeting, measures to ensure structural safety in high-rise buildings and prevent loss of life as well as property, besides considering a proposal to set up a high-level panel to address the issue of stalled projects, was discussed. On incidents of building collapses, Puri said homebuyers should have a sense of confidence that a building is structurally sound.
The responsibility has to be assumed by the builders themselves. If the builder has gone wrong, or he/she has not been able to check something, full recovery from that person is the minimum, as thousands of people get affected, he said.
Puri also asserted that there should be no dilution of the provisions of RERA law by states, and assured that the Centre will not bring the "whole template down" even if some states decide to dilute the norms.
He said the RERA is a widely accepted legislation and its success is anchored in the spirit of gradual but steady problem-solving. Meanwhile, it was pointed out that some states have tweaked the provisions of RERA while framing rules under the Act by exempting the registration of 'ongoing projects'. In February, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to examine whether the rules framed by various states under the RERA are in conformity with the central legislation and subserve the interest of homebuyers.
The CAC decided that a "committee may be constituted to look into various aspects of the legacy stalled projects and propose future course of action to ensure that homebuyers get their booked home. The CAC decided in-principle that registration of real estate agents should be on pan-India basis.
