Experts welcome MahaRERA’s move on conciliation forum

MahaRERA has brought out a set of norms on homebuyerdeveloper conciliations taking cognisance of concerns raised by lawyers who had said that they were not allowed to appear on behalf of litigants in the conciliation forum Apart from allowing lawyers to represent homebuyers the forumrsquos decisions will now be signed by MahaRERA a move welcomed by expertsDr Vasant Prabhu Secretary MahaRERA laid down the procedure via a circular of May 18Ramesh Prabhu founder of MahaSEWA said ldquoThis will increase the confidence in the process of reconciliation The best part of this circular is that when the conciliation forum reaches the settlement the same will be approved by MahaRERArdquoWith participation from both sides Ramesh Prabhu said it will also encourage practitioners to explore the possibilities of conciliation ldquoNone of the allottees or their representatives would like to fight against builders The conciliation forum certainly will help them arrive at mutually agreeable terms in writing before the Authorityrdquo said PrabhuAdvocate Godfrey Pimenta of Watchdog Foundation who also practices in MahaRERA said ldquoThanks to midday for highlighting the plight of the litigants due to which the MahaRERA Authority has taken due cognisance of the matter with regards to delay in disposal of cases etc It is a welcome decision that matters will be taken on seniority basis and that parties can be represented by their respective lawyersrdquoInvalid and ImproperldquoThe MahaRERA Conciliation amp Disputes Resolution Forum established vide Circular No 31 of 2021 in my view is an invalid and improper body constituted with little or no authority The circular exfacie invokes Section 25 and 32 of the RER Act Section 32 read with subclause g only contemplates that MahaRERA shall make recommendations to the State Government for facilitating amicable conciliation of disputes while Section 25 confers general powers of superintendence on the Chairperson How these seemingly innocuous provisions have been invoked to establish an independent or parallel forum is an issue the higher courts must necessarily examinerdquo said Advocate Akash Menon who practises in MahaRERAldquoAssuming for the moment the validity of such a constitution the exercise of sending complaints for conciliation to my mind appears to be an endeavour to protract what was intended to be an expeditious and homebuyerfriendly process The RER Act was brought into force with the sole intention of regulating the real estate market and protecting especially the interests of those individuals who pour their life savings into purchasing a house of their dreams By sending complaints for conciliation the Authority is only going to end up adding a few months to the resolution process Especially in light of Clause b of the Circular which says that at a time only 10 cases will be assigned to a particular conciliation bench Assuming there are 15 functional Conciliation Benches in Maharashtra it in effect means that at any given time you would only have 150 cases that would be assigned for conciliation leaving the balance cases in a seemingly endless void suspended between an Authority that has sent the matter for conciliation and a Conciliation Bench that cannot yet take up the matter for hearing for want of assignmentrdquo Menon saidHe added ldquoAnother pertinent point is that complaints made to the Authority can only be sent for conciliation with the consent of parties and especially that of the Complainant In most cases the Complainant would have exhausted the option of an amicable settlement before approaching the Authority for redress Sending such parties back for conciliation is in many senses a redundant exercise All in all while conciliation is a welcome alternative to a prolonged adjudication and execution process it must not become a tool in the hands of the deviant to delay just recoveries and derail an effective legislation like the RER ActrdquoAdvocate Anil Drsquosouza batted for more benches saying ldquoThis Institution is poised for exponential growth as both its arms ndash Regulation and Adjudication ndash will continue to expand its outreachrdquoLitigants flat purchasers lsquoAllotteesrdquo moved their grievances before the Maha RERA under The Act because of Section 79 Bar of Jurisdiction which states that ldquoNo civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of any matter which the Authority or the adjudicating officer or the Appellate Tribunal is empowered by or under this Act to determine and no injunction shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Actrdquo explained Advocate DrsquosouzalsquoBuilders may get a tool to exploitrsquoAdvocate Vinod Sampat President of Cooperative Societies Residents Users amp Welfare Association said ldquoWith the number of complaints pouring in the staff of RERA may not be able to resolve the complaints in months at the conciliation officer level It can even stretch to years Till such time it will be a tool for builders to exploit flat purchasershellip The correct way should be that builders should be told to pay compensation to flat purchasers for the period of delay and a similar amount to a welfare fund to be created for the welfare of flat purchasersrdquo said SampatCiting the interest rates of 21 per cent charged by housing societies on defaulting members and 30 per cent by bank on pending credit card bills Sampat said ldquoWho gives money to builders at such a low rate of interest of 13 percent The penalty of MahaRERA should be increasedrdquo Sampat concludedProcedure for conciliationThe following procedure is prescribed for hearing to be conducted by the MahaRERA Conciliation and Disputes Resolution Forum in referred conciliation matters online complaints transferred by MahaRERAa Once the complaints are referred to Conciliation Forum by MahaRERA the office bearers of the Conciliation Forum should first scrutinize the seniority of the said complaints and thereafter keeping its seniority intact assign distribute those complaints to the concerned functional Conciliation Benches The assignment of not more than 10 complaints can be done at the initial stageb Once the matters are assigned to the bench the concerned Conciliation bench shall issue notice of first hearing to the parties within a period of one week from the date of receipt of such assignment and the first hearing on such complaints should be conducted at least within 15 days Only after disposal of the assigned complaints next lot of 10 complaints can be assigned to the conciliation benchc In referred conciliation complaints all parties will be at liberty to be represented through advocates authorized representatives before the Conciliation Forumd In the referred conciliation matters if the parties arrive at any mutual agreement in that event the concerned bench should record the said proceeding in the Roznama and should refer such complaints to MahaRERA within a period of one week together duly with signed conciliation terms After placing such matters before the MahaRERA and only after passing final order by MahaRERA the said complaint will be treated as closed finally disposed ofe If the conciliation between the parties fails in that event such complaints be transferred back to MahaRERA within a period of one week for taking appropriate decision on meritsThe aforesaid procedure should be followed scrupulously by the office bearers and all the benches of Conciliation Forum to ensure timely speedy disposal of complaints assigned to themlsquoThis will increase the confidence in the process of reconciliation The best part of this circular is that when the conciliation forum reaches the settlement the same will be approved by MahaRERArsquoRamesh Prabhu CA and founder of MahaSEWAlsquoWith the number of complaints pouring in the staff of RERA may not be able to resolve the complaints in months at the conciliation officer level It can even stretch to years Till such time it will be a tool for builders to exploit flat purchasersrsquoAdvocate Vinod SampatPresident of Cooperative Societies Residents Users amp Welfare Association