Ravi Sinha: I welcome all the panelists in this roundtable discussion. We are organizing the brain storming session for our inaugural yearly Handbook Focus 2012. This is the second of the series after the 1st discussion in Mumbai on “Funding Gap in Real Estate.”
Today we are looking at a situation where real estate is isolated by the Government as an industry it does not trust. It could be because it is too segregated, too micro for a Government to take note about 5000 developers which are organized under CREDAI.
The much talked about and widely anticipated Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill may not get cleared in the current Budget Session of Parliament, since the government is getting cold in the wake of the Union Government running into opposition from the states on a host of issues, including the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre and Lokpal Bill.
While the government is trying to regulate the developers with provisions of penalty and up to imprisonment, the developers in Maharashtra have decided expose the policy paralysis through RTI route.
Manesar was envisaged as a model township encompassing residential real estate as well as commercial office and industrial establishments. Hence, it was appropriately christened as IMT (Integrated Manesar Township).
A real estate regulator will enforce public disclosure and bring in much needed transparency and accountability in the sector and there is overwhelming support for setting up such an entity.
Real estate developers have sought inclusion of “force majeure” provisions in the proposed real estate bill drafted by the Central Government.
Market forces of demand and supply are the most potent determinants of price and the developments in the real estate industry during year 2011 is the latest example.
In the wake of the real estate community under the industry body CREDAI, asking for only self-regulation and no government regulator, the Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath has bluntly refused to heed to any such fancy thoughts.
The Sahara group’s appeal against the order of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) will come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday, Nov 28.