NEW DELHI: More than 75 per cent of state real estate regulator Reras have either never issued annual reports or stopped publishing or failed to update annual reports despite statutory obligations and directions from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, homebuyers body FPCE claimed on Friday. It released a status report for 21 Reras as of February 13.The availability of updated annual reports is critical as these reports contain detailed information on Reras’ performance data, including project completion status by on-time completion, late completion and outstanding projects. The format for issuing these reports by the ministry also provides for provision of details such as actual execution status of refunds, possession and compensation orders and recovery order execution details along with value and list of defaulting builders.FPCE said annual report data is not only crucial for homebuyers to assess the credibility of the system, but is equally necessary for state and central governments to formulate effective policies, design incentive schemes and formulate tax policy frameworks.Abhay Upadhyay, chairman of FPCE and a member of the government’s central advisory committee on Rera, said: “Unless we have reliable data to prove that the real estate sector has improved in terms of delivery, fairness and keeping promises after the implementation of Rera, we are just shooting in the air.”According to details shared by the entity, seven states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Goa have never issued any annual reports since the implementation of Rera, while nine states including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, which originally issued reports, have stopped the practice.Upadhyay said when regulators themselves fail to comply with the law, they lose their legal right to demand compliance from other stakeholders. “Their failure has emboldened builders and weakened the very system they were supposed to protect,” he said.
