Haryana RERA imposes penalty of ₹5 crore on Vatika Limited for not registering real estate project on time

The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Gurugram, has imposed a penalty of ₹5 crore on a real estate developer Vatika Limited for not applying for RERA registration of an ongoing project within three months of the Act getting notified in Haryana in 2017, said a statement by Haryana RERA.

The penalty of ₹5 crore has been imposed for violation of Section 3 (1) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, the Authority said in a statement.

The Authority observed that the Vatika Limited obtained a license for its residential real estate project Vatika India Next way back in 2013 from the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department of Haryana and the promoter had to apply for RERA registration within three months of the notification of the Act in the state in 2017.

Vatika Limited applied for the RERA registration five years after the Haryana notification in 2022 and after RERA took a suo motu action in the matter, said the statement.

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“It was an ongoing project, and the promoter should have applied for the RERA registration well on time to avoid penalties. RERA registration is mandatory for all ongoing real estate projects where competition certificates were not issued before the Act coming into force in 2016,” said Arun Kumar, chairman, RERA Gurugram.

Section 3 (1) of the Act 2016 says, “No promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale or invite persons to purchase in the any manner any plot, apartment, or building, as the case may be, in any real estate project or part of it, in any planning area, without registering the real estate project with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority established under the Act.”

Also Read: Haryana RERA revokes registrations of five real estate projects in Gurugram

Thereafter, once the promoter submitted all the mandatory approvals for registration of the project, the Authority approved the registration of the project. The Authority also concluded the penal proceeding for violation of Section 3 which is a punishable offense under section 59 of the Act 2016 and imposed a penalty of ₹5 crore, said the statement.

When contacted, a Vatika Group spokesperson said that “Due to the development of NH352 W passing through our project and lack of information from GDMA regarding the road alignments, we could not finalize our services estimates which is mandatorily required by HRERA to process the registration. We have complied with HRERA’s imposition of the penalty and will always abide by whatever is deemed fit by the regulators with utmost respect and humility."

Also Read: Haryana RERA imposes penalty of ₹6 lakh on Vatika Ltd; Directs builder to execute BBA within a month

In April, the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) had penalized the real estate firm, Vatika Limited, with more than ₹6 lakh for violating the builder-buyer agreement provisions and directed the promoter to execute the BBA within a month.