High court of Karnataka
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: The state government has assured the high court that appropriate steps would be taken to constitute/appoint the chairperson and the members to the Real Estate Regulatory Appellate (RERA) Tribunal without any loss of time.
Justice M Nagaprasanna adjourned the hearing of the matter to March 22 in a petition filed by Mathew John, a resident of Bengaluru, seeking directions to consider his representation for appointment to the posts as they fell vacant on June 2, 2023.
The petitioner stated that an appeal was filed by a promoter in February 2023, wherein the promoter had challenged certain orders passed in his favour by the adjudicating authority and the same is pending for the last eight months as the appellate tribunal is vacant.
“The State has not taken any steps to fill up the vacancy and make the Tribunal functional by appointing a Chairperson. Section 22 of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority requires the State to fill in the vacancies and the proceedings to continue from that stage itself. All the orders passed by the RERA are appealable under Section 44(5) of the Act and the Appellate Tribunal is required to dispose of the said appeals within 60 days from the date of receipt of the appeal,” the court observed.
Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty submitted that one member of RERA is to retire in April and assured that the appointment will be
made within the next three weeks.
“Therefore, without brooking any delay, the State shall initiate the process of identifying and appointing the member to the ensuing vacancy, who would assume the charge immediately after the retirement of the member so that there should not be any vacuum and those petitioners also start coming before this court,” the court said.