HRERA restricts sale, purchase of Vatika housing project in Gurugram

The Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) has restricted the sale and purchase of properties in the Vatika India Next 2 project in Sectors 88A and 88B, a statement issued by the authority on Wednesday said. According to the regulator, the licence of the project expired in 2019 and the developer is yet to submit the documents required for completing mandatory registration. The authority also observed that approvals for the zoning plan and service plan are still pending.

“The authority hereby exercises its powers and gives show cause notice of thirty days to the developer to explain why the registration application should not be rejected. The promoter has moved the application in a casual manner without providing details and requisite information. Therefore, the authority restrains the sale and purchase of properties in this un-registered project,” the statement said.

Vatika Limited, however, said that they have already applied for licence renewal with the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP,) and also partially registered the project with HRERA. Vatika obtained a licence from the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) in 2013 to develop the plotted township. It applied for RERA registration in August 2022, after a delay of five years as HRERA was notified in the state in July 2017, the authority observed.

HRERA scrutinised the developer’s registration application in a hearing on September 12 this year and found it to be lacking. “If any promoter contravenes the provision laid in section 3 of the RERA Act, he shall be liable to a penalty which may extend up to 10% of the estimated cost of the real estate project,” said Dr KK Khandelwal, chairman, RERA.

The authority also cautioned people against booking plots and flats in unregistered projects. It noted that a promoter’s negligence is an offence under section 5(1)(b) of the RERA Act, which states, “On receipt of the application the authority shall within a period of thirty days reject the application for reasons to be recorded in writing if such application does not conform to the provisions of the Act or rules or regulations there under.”

When asked about the matter, a senior official of Vatika Limited said that they have already applied for licence renewal with the DTCP which was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic during which official work suffered. “We have applied for the renewal of licence within the time allowed and requisite fees have already been paid. We have also availed reschedulement of EDC fees from DTCP. We also have a partial HRERA registration number 271 of 2017 for the project. We will always follow all guidelines of regulatory authorities as Vatika is a responsible developer,” he said. The developer added that the Vatika India Next 2 project is still in the development phase.