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Devendra Pandit

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With a total of 20 plus, Years of experience, Devendra Pandit comes from a rich background with versatile experience from different fields like Customer Service, Prop Tech, Real Estate, Finance, Management, and Sales. Time and again, his articles have revolutionized the industry standards and has been awarded for his contribution on greater than life platforms

DTCP ordered Chintels India to shift residents of E & F towers

GURUGRAM: On Wednesday, the department of town and country planning (DTCP) ordered the Chintels Paradiso developer in Sector 109 to immediately relocate the residents of towers E and F.

District Town Planner (enforcement) Manish Yadav wrote to Chintels India, the developer, requiring it to offer monthly rentals to residents of these two towers at a rate of Rs 15 per square foot. According to him, the developer will have to sign a lease for a period of 11 months and make rent payments until the residents’ claims are resolved.

Yadav added that the six-month rent must be paid in full right away. Additionally, he continued, “a lump sum payment of Rs 40,000 will be made to each flat owner of these two towers as shifting charges. The DTP further stated in the letter that Chintels must sign an agreement within 10 days.

Yadav claimed that after a structural audit by IIT-Delhi, both of these towers had been deemed unfit for habitation. “We have instructed the builder to relocate and temporarily settle the residents of both towers. We also urge the residents to leave these towers as soon as possible for their safety, he continued.

A representative for Chintels stated that the company has been following the instructions of the district administration and other relevant authorities. “We have been asking the district administration to help us evacuate the towers so that residents can stay safe. We will adhere to the rules established by DTCP regarding the 15 sq ft rentals to residents of towers E and F.

Days after the district administration declared the two buildings unfit for habitation and cited an IIT report highlighting structural flaws in them, Yadav had instructed the developer to have the flats in the two towers vacated with “immediate effect” by February 16.

The developer has now been asked to vacate the two towers three times. After receiving complaints from locals about building flaws and sagging balconies, district town planner Amit Madholia, who was in charge at the time, issued such an order on November 10 of last year. In order to vacate the apartments within five days, the developer was asked to submit a schedule and the procedure to be used.

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Maharashtra Government to Create Panel to Draft SOP for Construction Site Safety

MUMBAI: On Monday, the Maharashtra state government announced its decision to establish an expert committee to draft a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to prevent accidents at under-construction buildings and infrastructure project sites.

This move follows the deaths of two pedestrians last month after bricks fell from an under-construction building in Worli. The company that owns the building has offered to pay Rs 25 lakh to the victim’s kin.

Industries Minister Uday Samant made the announcement during a Calling Attention motion moved by Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Sunil Shinde in the Legislative Council. He informed the council that a technical committee had already been directed to be set up by the High Court in a similar case. The new committee will suggest measures for pedestrian safety at under-construction sites and create a comprehensive policy to prevent accidents.

Shinde alleged that the number of objects falling from under-construction buildings across the state was increasing and pointed out several irregularities in the Worli building where the incident occurred. Samant assured the council that all issues raised by the MLCs would be examined but refused to halt the ongoing construction work.

Deputy chairperson of the Legislative Council, Neelam Gorhe, directed opposition MLCs to submit a draft of the expected SOP to the government. She further directed Samant to incorporate suggestions and come out with a comprehensive SOP at the earliest.

This announcement comes after the Bombay High Court directed the BMC to formulate norms on safety requirements at construction sites just three days ago. In February, two pedestrians lost their lives after a heavy stone attached to a construction crane fell on them from the 42nd floor of an under-construction highrise building at Dr E Moses Road in Worli. The Worli police later arrested the contractor and two workers for allegedly causing death by negligence.

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HSVP siphoned Rs 100 crore to Punjab builders from secret bank account

CHANDIGARH: The accounts division of Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) opened and ran a covert bank account to transfer funds to independent builders and their associates in Zirakpur and Dera Bassi in the Punjab province.

It was discovered on Wednesday after Panchkula police received a letter from the HSVP’s chief controller of finances requesting an investigation and case registration. More than Rs 100 crore worth of fraudulent transactions were made using the secret bank account, which is linked to the estate office in Panchkula. The internal audit team has only been able to uncover the specifics of transactions totaling Rs 72 crore.

B B Gupta, chief controller of finance, declared: “We have started an internal investigation and asked police to investigate to identify the HSVP officials involved.” The transactions were carried out between April 2016 and February 2019 using the Punjab National Bank (PNB), allegedly by members of the HSVP’s accounts department. Under the terms of land acquisition compensation, the funds were distributed to private builders.

The money was transferred to the builders, their relatives, and their workers as well. HSVP’s chief administrator, Ajit Balaji Joshi, said an internal inquiry and police investigation will proceed simultaneously. HSVP’s chief controller of finance, Gupta, also claimed to have been surprised by the tipoff.

Gupta said, “We checked with our accounts department first. We did not have those accounts on our list. Since we have other accounts as well, we later contacted the bank. One of those HSVP accounts was used to transfer the funds. Comparing the statements, we found that the transactions were fraudulent”.

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Residents pay 10 lakh per month but Tamil Nadu housing board failed to maintain flats

CHENNAI: The 550 owners of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board’s tenements in Ambattur pay nearly 10 lakh in maintenance fees each month, but residents claim that the majority of issues go unresolved.

Prior to the maintenance fee being increased to 1,800 six months ago, residents claimed they had each been paying 1,600 per month for maintenance since 2020.

According to them, the complex does not offer amenities like a gym, party rooms, a mini-theatre, or a swimming pool for such high prices. Residents’ associations within the tenements had declined to take on maintenance on their own, claiming that not all the homes were occupied and the towers had numerous quality issues. According to Block Eight Residents Welfare Association President Suresh C. Nair, the walls had extensive cracks, cement dust was constantly falling, the lifts weren’t working, and trash had been dumped beneath the tiles. Why do they charge so much for maintenance when nothing is done? “Every month, we have to visit the TNHB office in Thirumangalam (6 km away) to pay maintenance,” he said.

There were only two sweepers for the 266 houses, according to Malar, who lives on the 11th floor of Block 9. There have been just over 100 homes sold. The entire building cannot be cleaned by two sweepers. Secondly, there is poor quality wiring on most floors above the 10th. Even when we use our own lights, they don’t work.

Little was done to address the many issues, but money was being collected, she said. “Some owners are spending their own money to fix their homes because they have to leave them for rent.”

The homes were purchased in 2016 for a total of Rs 19.9 lakh each, and they were delivered in 2020. In order to provide the sale deed, they are now demanding an additional Rs. 3 lakh. “We have refused to pay because we are unsure of the purpose of this,” she said. A Palanisamy from Block 9 reported that the steps were broken and there was no garbage collection. “The 1800 is not worth paying,” he said. Residents shared images of hollow staircases without concrete plastering on Saturday. 

Neither executive engineer Manjunathan nor assistant engineer Muruganandam of TNHB were available for comment. Prior to this, TNHB Chairman Poochi S. Murugan said that he would talk with residents about maintenance and sale deeds.

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Delhi RERA will take action against builders avoiding project registration

According to chairperson Anand Kumar, the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) of Delhi has decided to crack down on builders who avoid registration by performing surprise checks.

Despite the fact that project registration with the Authority is required for all developed areas over 500 square meters in Delhi, regardless of the number of apartments constructed there, several builders were avoiding doing so.

We’ve heard a lot of complaints, and we’ll start responding to them. When there is no complaint, in some circumstances, we will check the violations, said Kumar.

Unregistered projects will be subject to a fine of up to 5% of the project cost under RERA. Delhi RERA resolved about 160 complaints between 2017 and 2021. It resolved 150 complaints in the previous year.

“We got to know that builders are getting the land registered to four different owners by giving them 25% share each and then starting the development so that they don’t come under the ambit of RERA. For instance, if a 1,000 square yard plot of land is divided among four owners and later developed, the total developed area won’t exceed 500 square meters, and the developer can avoid registration”, according to Kumar.

RERA has urged the Delhi government to refrain from registering a single land parcel in the names of various owners in order to close this loophole. Since low-rise buildings make up the majority of Delhi’s real estate market, local developers renovate buildings and sell the floors separately for up to Rs 30 crore each.

Following complaints about purchasers not receiving their property in a timely manner, RERA declared in April 2022 that even low-rise developments must be registered.

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CRDA must pay interest to allottees on failure to provide possession of flats – APRERA

VIJAYWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) has been ordered by the Andhra Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (APRERA) to pay interest on the money paid by the flat allottees in the Happy Nest project because possession of the flats was not provided as per the contract.

The interest must be paid by APCRDA from June 30, 2022, until the allottees receive their apartments. The interest rate was decided as the Prime Lending Rate of State Bank of India + 2%.

The Happy Nest project, to construct luxurious apartments in Amaravati, was announced by the APCRDA in 2018. The apartments were offered for sale online. The APCRDA announced the second phase of Happy Nest as soon as the apartments were sold out, and a total of 1,200 apartments were sold.

The project has been put on hold along with the Amaravati project since the YSRC government came to power. However, the APCRDA was required to deliver the apartments to the allottees by December 2021. Some of the allottees demanded an explanation and even filed a complaint with the APRERA because the construction of the Happy Nest apartments was not completed within the time limit.

Together with 11 other people, Maddineni Venkata Sai Babu filed separate complaints with APRERA against APCRDA. Karumanchi Indraneel Babu made the claim on behalf of the complainants, claiming that the APCRDA had broken its promise to finish the project by the predetermined date. In accordance with section 18 of the RERA Act, the complainants requested interest be applied to the amount paid. They have also demanded Rs 20 lakh in compensation for mental agony.

However, Kasa Jagan Mohan Reddy argued that RERA had extended the registration deadline in the suo moto actions it had taken.

He argued that APCRDA could not be used twice on the same project. In addition, he said that all parties, including APCRDA, had no control over bidders’ refusal to accept projects due to Covid-19. 

The APRERA determined that the complainants are entitled to interest on the amount paid after observing that the APCRDA failed to complete the project within the deadline despite taking into account the additional six months granted because of Covid-19.

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313 major projects for shortcoming received cause notice by Maha RERA

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority announced on Monday that it has issued show-cause notices to 313 major projects across the state in response to an external auditor’s report highlighting several flaws.

According to an official statement, the watchdog appointed a reputable audit firm as part of its mandate to look at projects at a micro level, and the notices were sent to projects red-flagged by the firm.

It noted that there are cases where a developer has claimed 75% of the budgeted expenditure is done while the project is only 50% complete as an example of the shortcomings including total expenditure claimed to be incurred by a developer not reflecting on the ground.

The statement added that the audit took into account statutory progress reports filed with Maharera, ratings of a developer, and information from bankruptcy courts in cases where the targeted date of completion is less than six months away but the work is less than half complete.

According to the Maharera statement, investigators with experience in banks and the income tax recovery division have been asked to visit these projects.

The statement warned that if a developer doesn’t cooperate, the investigator’s findings will be deemed conclusive and appropriate action will be taken.

According to the statement, suburban Mumbai has the most projects that have received notices, with 109, followed by the nearby city of Thane with 58, Pune with 56, and Mumbai City with 44.

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Bank guarantee provided by the builder, still Ansal Esencia lacks electricity

IT specialist Kanika Roy was excited when she booked her dream house in the Ansal Esencia project in Sector 67 in 2012. Despite receiving possession in September 2020, the Roys have not been able to move into their apartment after 11 years.

The developer didn’t build the required electrical infrastructure, which is why there aren’t any new power connections in the community, claims the 43-year-old.

Roy claimed that they had been promised delivery by 2015, but five years later, when we finally received the keys, we were unable to move because there was no electricity connection. We were initially mistreated by the developer. We are currently at DHBVN’s mercy.

More than 300 families have been left stranded due to the dispute between the developer and DHBVN over the lack of power infrastructure and have thus far been unable to move into their dream homes.

The bank guarantee liability for DHBVN has been reduced from Rs 19 crore to Rs 13.47 crore over the past year. However, only Rs 5.42 crore of the total sum has been paid in advance by the developer for the external electrical infrastructure, in addition to the transfer of a parcel of land for the construction of a substation and the installation of 14 transformers.

The project began in 2011 and spans 250 acres. Approximately 2,000 families are now residing there after possession began in 2014.

Another customer, Sharad Rao, stated, “I have applied for an electricity connection three times since October 2022, but DHBVN has not yet approved it. Despite receiving possession, we are still unable to move into the apartment due to a lack of adequate power infrastructure. I have already paid all of my taxes and am currently making rent and EMI payments.

On Thursday, the aggrieved homebuyers met with DHBVN’s chief engineer to request his assistance in releasing the colony’s electricity connection. 

The majority of the power infrastructure’s problems have been fixed by the developer as a result of our diligent efforts, but DHBVN is still delaying the issuance of the permanent connection, according to Dharmender Tanwar, RWA president of Ansal Esencia. Residents have been suffering despite paying all their taxes to the government.

“In November 2021, DHBVN stopped issuing new electricity connections in the township and asked us to build the required infrastructure,”  said a developer representative. We have already deposited Rs 5.42 crore as a bank guarantee and a land parcel worth Rs 9 crore with DHBVN. All of its instructions have been followed.

PK Chauhan, DHBVN’s superintending engineer, responded to a request for comment by saying, “The developer had to build the 33 kv substation and other electrical electrification, which they did not construct as per the sanctioned scheme in 2012. They updated the approved plan in March 2022 to account for the additional area and deposited Rs. 5.42 crore as bank security.

“Right now, the developer is the subject of insolvency proceedings. Even though we have used the bank guarantee, the substation still needs to be built. By the end of this month, things should be more clear because the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will probably issue its ruling, the expert predicted.

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No electricity for a week in JKG Palm Court’s common area, electricity connection is still temporary

NOIDA: Residents protested on Sunday afternoon, alleging that the builders had not obtained a permanent electricity connection from the power department and were running JKG Palm Court on a temporary one.

Residents complain that there has been no electricity in the common area of JKG Palm Court Society in Greater Noida West for a week.

A society resident named Santosh Jha said that there are nearly 350 families living in JKG Palm Court. The builder is pressuring us to pay maintenance charges without providing the basics. Since February 5, there has been no electricity in the common area. The builder has also put up a notice, saying that if we don’t pay the maintenance fee, other facilities like lifts will stop.

Residents claimed that the project has been delayed by 8 years and that the builder has not installed a permanent electricity connection or a diesel generator. 

Santosh Jha said that the builder had taken a one-year advance payment from them, including stamp duty charges and NCPL (Noida Power Company Ltd) connection charges. Residents have been living here for the past 3-4 years, facing difficulties moving around due to no electricity in the common area.

Moreover, damaged boundary walls and the lack of CCTV cameras in society make residents feel unsafe. 

The builder got a temporary occupational certificate (OC) from the GNIDA in 2019 for 18 months. Through those months, the builder had to get power backup, internal wiring, the required NOCs, etc. But the builder failed to get the work done. So, the GNIDA canceled its temporary OC, said Ripunjay Jha, another resident. 

The builder does not respond to any of their issues, the clubhouse is not yet ready, and intercom facilities are also not functional in many flats, added residents.

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Haryana RERA revokes JMS Infra Realty’s bank guarantees

The promoter was required to submit the approved service plans and estimates and the approved zoning plan of the project within three months to obtain RERA registration certificate (RC) in March 2022

The bank guarantees of real estate promoter JMS Infra Realty Private Limited have been forfeited by the Haryana real estate regulatory authority (HRERA) Gurugram because the promoter was late with the submission of its project’s zoning plan, approved service plans, and estimates.

According to the conditions for granting a RERA registration certificate (RC) in March 2022, the promoter was required to submit the project’s approved service plans and estimates, as well as the approved zoning plan, within three months. The promoter had submitted Rs 25 lakh each for the two conditions as a security deposit with the authority.

The authority said that the bank guarantees were submitted to the authority by the promoter as security for the timely submission of approved service plans, estimates and approved zoning plans as stated in the registration certificate, which was issued to the promoter by the Haryana real estate regulatory authority, Gurugram in March 2022.

The authority’s order from January 16 stated, “The bank guarantees submitted by the promoter are being forfeited by the authority since the promoter has not complied with the conditions of the registration certificate within the stipulated time period.”

For the development of a plotted colony called “The Nation” under the Deen Dayal Jan Awas Yojana (DDJAY) program in Sector 95, Gurugram, the promoter acquired the RERA registration certificate.

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