Team Blitz India
MUMBAI: In the past 14 months, the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRera) has recovered Rs 125 crore from developers by way of compensation for homebuyers.
With this, MahaRera has become the only real estate regulator in India to achieve such a record number. So far MahaRera has managed to recover a total of Rs 160 crore.
To make compensation recovery more effective, MahaRera has decided to mandatorily include developer’s bank account details in the recovery warrants issued to the revenue department. This enables the revenue department to identify and attach the bank account of the developer concerned to recover the compensation, thereby providing relief to the homebuyers.
In January last year, MahaRera had appointed a retired additional collector to recover compensation on behalf of homebuyers. This official is in regular touch with all the collectors, deputy collectors, tehsildars and talathis, who coordinate compensation recovery in every district of Maharashtra.
MahaRera gives top priority to the recovery exercise and is reviewed in each of the department head meetings. Due to the constant efforts put in, so far MahaRera has recovered Rs 159.1 crore linked with 237 complaints in 117 projects. Of this, Rs 125 crore was recovered in 2023. So far, MahaRera has issued 1,095 warrants to recover Rs 661.15 crore.
From across the state, the highest number of warrants is from the suburban Mumbai district. A total of 434 warrants from 114 projects have been issued to recover Rs 298 crore. So far, Rs 71.06 crore has been recovered through 75 warrants belonging to 40 projects.
Pune is the second highest with 239 warrants to recover Rs 181.49 crore from 123 projects. Out of these, 55 warrants worth Rs 38.90 crore from 35 projects have been recovered.
In case of any wrongdoing, and after conducting hearings involving the opposing parties, MahaRera orders developers to compensate or refund the sum with interest within a prescribed timeframe. In case if a developer defaults in paying compensation, the collector’s office plays a crucial role in recovering the amount.
Under Section 40(1) of the Immovable Property (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 and provisions of Maharashtra Land Revenue Act, the collector’s office has the power to recover the arrears. Hence, the recovery warrants are sent to the concerned collector’s office.
