Mumbai: Now, free legal aid for litigants in RERA cases

The Bar Association of MahaRERA has given homebuyers who are struggling to fight suits against buildersdevelopers a ray of hope by offering free legal assistance The lawyers associated with the authority will provide legal consultancy to litigants and even represent them in a tribunal The litigants will only have to pay the official MahaRERA charge of R5000 for filing a complaintDeserving complainants will be assisted by the lawyers and Charted Accountants CA registered with the Bar Association of the Maharashtra Real Estate Authoritys MahaRERA starting February 1 MahaREAT Appellate Tribunal president Justice Indira Jain had first mooted the idea to help litigants who cant afford to hire professionals on December 24 2019 The MahaRERA Bar Association acknowledged her proposal and has started working on itBar Association president Advocate Harshad Bhadbhade said We are in the process of making a final list of lawyers and CAs who are looking after RERA matters and are willing to provide free legal aid We will provide free legal assistance to those struggling to hire professionals due to financial constraintsCovers two major servicesAdvocate Godfrey Pimenta a Bar Association member clarified that the deserving complainants would receive two services a free consultancy and assistance in drafting the complaint and b lawyers would argue the case before MahaRERA or the MahaREAT The litigants will only have to pay R5000 as fees for filing a complaint against the builderdeveloperThe free service option was opened after it was noticed that many litigants were losing their cases because of lack of legal knowledgeThe free legal aid is being offered after it was observed that many litigants were losing their cases because of lack of legal knowledge representation picWe have observed that many times individuals arguing in person before MahaRERA tend to lose track of their case as they are not aware of the nittygritty of law whereas developersbuilders hire professionals to represent them In such cases individuals complaint is either dismissed or they are asked to file a fresh oneEither way they suffer a loss of Rs 5000 Pimenta saidActiviapplaud moveHousing rights activists have applauded the initiative and said free professional help would only encourage genuine and innocent customers to come forward and fight for justice at MahaRERA or challenge the MahaRERA order before the Appellate TribunalWe are looking into complaints from fifteen flat buyers who were promised possession of their flats almost a decade ago in a stalled project in Virar They continue to stay in chawls across suburbs and dont have funds to hire a professional We are asking them to approach the MahaRERA secretary to seek free legal aid from February 1 said Ramesh Prabhu an activist and founder of Maharashtra Societies Welfare AssociationIndividuals seeking free legal aid will need to write to MahaRERA secretary who will forward such requests to the MahaRERA Bar Association In case of application in Appellate Tribunal complainants will have to write to the MahaREAT registrar who will forward the request to the Bar Association Prabhu said adding that the free legal aid is a platform for the voiceless He said the move comes at a time when majority of flat buyers are succumbing to the pressure from the buildersdevelopers as they feel getting into litigation is not only time consuming but also unaffordable and hence prefer to reach a compromise Lack of awareness about MahaRERA makes the situation even worseI am happy says litigantMary Mahadalekar a 60yearold retired bank official who is forced to stay in a rented house in Andheri East said she was happy that the MahaRERA Bar Association has decided to help the people in distressWith no guidance I wrote a halfpage complaint to MahaRERA in August 2018 seeking a refund from the builder and paid Rs 5000 fee However after the first hearing I realised that it was not easy to present the case on your own So I hired a lawyer who redrafted my application but I had to pay R5000 again she addedCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates