MahaRERA Tribunal Sets Up by State Government

The appellate tribunal of the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority is finally in place as state government has approved three members. They have appointed Justice Indira Jain, who is a retired high court judge, as its president. Sumant Kolhe who was associated with judiciary and IAS officer S.S. Sandhu have been appointed as judicial and administration/technical members respectively.

Post retirement, Sandhu will be appointed as the member of tribunal, i.e. after June 30. Additional Chief Secretary (Housing) Sanjay Kumar, Justice Shantanu Kemkar, and AM Jamadar who is the principal secretary of judiciary and law have formed a search committee to set up the tribunal.

The permanent appellate tribunal will be hearing the appeals against the MahaRERA orders. It will be approached by the developers and homebuyers for overruling MahaRERA’s order. According to a MahaRERA official, if a developer or homebuyer has any problem with this order, they can file appeal to the board rather than going to the high court.

MahaRERA officials summoned the appellate tribunal formation. They told that it was very important to form a permanent authority as per the act. An official said, “We had a temporary authority which was working from the revenue tribunal. A permanent panel has been formed which should be helpful for both developers and end users.”

MahaRERA has been operational since May 1, 2017. Till the constitution of permanent appellate authority, the temporary tribunal has disposed of up to 58 cases. According to the officials, permanent appellate tribunal will be helpful to keep developers and consumers from reaching the high court. Shirish Deshpande, Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, added, “We appreciate the permanent tribunal. There was a temporary appellate tribunal till date. This tribunal will follow all the orders from MahaRERA.”

Earlier, Deshpande asked for quick appointment of the tribunal as a lot of consumers and developers approaching the high court. Shantilal Kataria, CREDAI president said the tribunal is yet to be formed though Maharashtra has become the first state to set up MahaRERA and its official website. He said, “It will really be helpful for both consumers and developers as it will not just be cost effective and quick disposal of cases.”