SC strikes down WB’s HIRA law on real estate regulations

05 May 2021 CW Team

The apex court noted that the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulatory Authority (WB HIRA) has failed to include valuable safeguards for the homebuyers. A bench of justices—DY Chandrachud and MR Shah—said the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act (HIRA), 2017 is somewhat identical to the centre's RERA repugnant to Parliament's law.

The judgement came on a plea of 'Forum For People's Collective Efforts', an umbrella homebuyers association, challenging the constitutional validity of West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act, 2017, which is more or less identical to the Centre's RERA.

Pronouncing the verdict through video conferencing, Justice Chandrachud said that fundamental features of the WB HIRA overlap and is a word-to-word duplication of the centre's RERA.

The bench, which passed a lengthy verdict on the issue, said that West Bengal’s HIRA touches upon entry six and seven of the concurrent list, which was occupied by the law passed by Parliament and set up a parallel regime in the State.

The panel said that WB HIRA is directly in conflict with RERA, without any valuable safeguards for the home buyers, and that it is invoking powers under Article 142 to hold that registrations of properties done under the state law before its verdict will be valid.

During the hearing of the petition, the top court wondered whether a state, in the name of cooperative federalism, enact legislation under the concurrent list to occupy the same subjects in which Parliament has enacted a law.

The court observed that both centre's RERA and WB HIRA dealt with issues of providing reliefs to home buyers and promoting real estate sectors, but some of the provisions of the state's legislation were in direct conflict with the law passed by the Parliament.

It had wondered why a state would have a similar law enacted when there is already a law passed by Parliament and said many provisions in WB HIRA are similar to the central government's RERA.

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Also read: Impacts of interpretations on RERA: A legal analysis

The Supreme Court (SC) struck out West Bengal's law on regulating the real estate sector, stating it as unconstitutional as the State's statute encroached upon the Centre's Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA). The apex court noted that the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulatory Authority (WB HIRA) has failed to include valuable safeguards for the homebuyers. A bench of justices—DY Chandrachud and MR Shah—said the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act (HIRA), 2017 is somewhat identical to the centre's RERA repugnant to Parliament's law. The judgement came on a plea of 'Forum For People's Collective Efforts', an umbrella homebuyers association, challenging the constitutional validity of West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act, 2017, which is more or less identical to the Centre's RERA. Pronouncing the verdict through video conferencing, Justice Chandrachud said that fundamental features of the WB HIRA overlap and is a word-to-word duplication of the centre's RERA. The bench, which passed a lengthy verdict on the issue, said that West Bengal’s HIRA touches upon entry six and seven of the concurrent list, which was occupied by the law passed by Parliament and set up a parallel regime in the State. The panel said that WB HIRA is directly in conflict with RERA, without any valuable safeguards for the home buyers, and that it is invoking powers under Article 142 to hold that registrations of properties done under the state law before its verdict will be valid. During the hearing of the petition, the top court wondered whether a state, in the name of cooperative federalism, enact legislation under the concurrent list to occupy the same subjects in which Parliament has enacted a law. The court observed that both centre's RERA and WB HIRA dealt with issues of providing reliefs to home buyers and promoting real estate sectors, but some of the provisions of the state's legislation were in direct conflict with the law passed by the Parliament. It had wondered why a state would have a similar law enacted when there is already a law passed by Parliament and said many provisions in WB HIRA are similar to the central government's RERA. Image Source Also read: Impacts of interpretations on RERA: A legal analysis