Mumbai, Sep 22: The Centre is working on a legislation to fill in the regulatory gaps in real estate and the proposed law will lay emphasis on transparency and fair play in the sector whose image has taken a severe beating.
It is also hopeful that the new Land Acquisition Bill would be passed in the winter session of Parliament.
“Land acquisition challenges need to be overcome for growth of the real estate sector. The new Land Acquisition Bill presented in Parliament would be passed after taking all the concerns on board. This should happen before the end of the winter session of Parliament,” Union Minister of Housing, Urban Poverty Alleviation and Culture Kumari Selja said today.
The Bill would try to make land owners partners in urbanisation and adequately compensate all persons dependent on the land being acquired. This would give a humane face to land acquisition and would make development move inclusive, hassle-free and sustainable, she told a Ficci-organised International Real Estate summit here.
“The realty sector also has to win the trust of its customers, regulators and other stakeholders. There is an immense need to improve the regulatory environment, governance and transparency in the sector,” the Minister said.
We in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation are working on a Central legislation to fill in the regulatory gaps. The regulation would lay emphasis on self disclosure, transparency, fair play and dispute resolution.”
The realty sector's image has suffered a huge dent due to recent housing loan scam, judgments by the Competition Commission of India and issues relating to land acquisition for real estate projects across the country, Selja said. Selja further said approval procedures for realty projects need to be improved to cut down the time required in obtaining clearances.
“We have formed a task force in the Ministry, with the states and industry representatives as members to steer it. The task force is consulting industry bodies and states for suggestions to streamline the existing procedures. Ficci's study on the same subject would also be considered by the task force,” the Minister stated.
She appealed to the real estate industry to come forward to build low-cost houses.
“As part of reforms in our schemes, a certain percentage of land has to be reserved for lower income groups in housing projects. We are working with the states to see that reservation does not affect the bottomline of the sector.
I would request the developers to use this as an opportunity to showcase their commitment to the common man,” she said. PTI
