The Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA), Gurugram, has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on city-based real estate promoter Vatika Ltd for failing to register its project within the stipulated time. The penalty has been imposed for violation of Section 3 (1) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, an official said.
The authority observed that Vatika Ltd obtained a licence for its residential real estate project Vatika India Next in 2013 from the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department of Haryana.
The promoter had to apply for RERA registration within three months of the notification of the Act in the state in 2017.
However, Vatika Ltd applied for the registration after RERA took a suo motu action based on a notification by the Haryana government in 2022.Arun Kumar, Chairman of HRERA Gurugram, said, “It was an ongoing project, and the promoter should have applied for the RERA registration well on time to avoid penalties. HRERA registration is mandatory for all on-going real estate projects where competition certificates were not issued before the Act coming into force in 2016.”
According to Section 3 (1) of the Act 2016, “No promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale or invite persons to purchase in any manner any plot, apartment, or building, as the case may be, in any real estate project or part of it, in any planning area, without registering the real estate project with the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority established under the Act”.
Thereafter, once the promoter submits all the mandatory approvals for the project’s registration, the authority approves the registration of the project. The authority also concluded the penal proceeding for violation of Section 3 which is a punishable offence under section 59 of the Act 2016 and imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore.
As per Vatika Group, due to the development of NH 352 W passing through the project and lack of information from GDMA regarding the road alignments, it could not finalize its services estimates which is mandatorily required by HRERA to process the registration. “We have complied with HRERA’s imposition of the penalty and will always abide by whatever is deemed fit by the regulators with utmost respect and humility,” it informed.
