MahaRERA yet to address nearly 7,000 pending homebuyer cases

Jayshree Sukhadia, a resident of Chira Bazaar, filed a complaint with MahaRERA in October 2020 after alleging that the developer of a building in Neral requested an additional sum and refused to refund the Rs 13 lakh she had paid as consideration for an apartment she had reserved in 2017. One year after the complaint was filed and the subject was referred to the mediation forum, the first hearing on Sukhadia's complaint was held in October 2021. There has been no hearing date announced since March 2022, when conciliation failed. Not only Sukhadia, but other homebuyers have also fought for swift justice. Of the 21,274 cases that MahaRERA has received so far, 6,989 are either now being heard or are still waiting. Despite the fact that the regulating organization was established to provide justice to home purchasers who are being harassed by dishonest marketers, the delay in considering complaints has hurt home buyers. Some homebuyers would rather take their grievances to the consumer court than to MahaRERA. The regulatory authority's vacancies, according to MahaRERA officials, are to blame for the delays in holding hearings and resolving complaints. Only the chairman and two other members currently have a backlog of complaints to hear. The state government has not appointed new members to replace those whose mandates have already ended, despite protests and complaints. According to MahaRERA Bar Association Secretary Anil Dsouza, “In all other courts, the next date set for hearing is at least within two to three months. But in MahaRERA, the date for the next hearing itself takes more than a year. Matters are often adjourned sine die, which means without giving the next date. How can you operate with a reduced number of benches, when the number of complaints is only increasing?” “Around 300 fresh complaints are filed with MahaRERA in a month. However, almost a similar number of complaints are being disposed of by the two benches in a month. For the last two years, MahaRERA has had only two members apart from the adjudicating members. The government did try to appoint additional members. However, for various reasons, the appointments did not fructify. The appointment of only one member would resolve the problem and clear the backlog of complaints,” said a MahaRERA official. See also: MahaRERA cautions homebuyers against 308 projects facing insolvencyHomebuyers ask MahaRERA for redress due to developers' non-compliance