Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA)

The real estate sector is a crucial driver of economic growth in India, contributing significantly to GDP and employment. However, for many years, the sector was plagued by issues like project delays, lack of transparency, and disputes between buyers and developers. To address these issues, the Indian government introduced the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, commonly known as RERA. 

What is RERA:

RERA, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, was enacted by the Indian Parliament to regulate the real estate sector and ensure the protection of home buyers while boosting investments in real estate. The Act mandates the establishment of a Real Estate Regulatory Authority in each state and union territory to oversee the sector and address grievances.

Objectives of RERA :

The primary objectives of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority are as follows:

• Customer Protection : RERA is focused on safeguarding the interests of homebuyers by ensuring fair practices, providing timely information, and resolving disputes between buyers and developers.

•  Promote Transparency: It aims to bring transparency to the real estate sector by mandating developers to disclose project details, including project timelines, legal approvals, and financial information, enabling buyers to make informed decisions.

• Standardization and Accountability: RERA sets guidelines and regulations for real estate developers, ensuring adherence to quality standards, construction norms, and timely completion of projects. It holds developers accountable for any deviations from the agreed-upon terms and conditions.

• Establishment of Regulatory Authority: It establishes a dedicated regulatory authority that acts as an independent body to oversee the real estate market, enforce regulations, and resolve disputes effectively and efficiently.

Functions of RERA:

The RERA Authority performs the following functions:

• Regulate and Register: This Authority has the jurisdiction to list and control real estate brokers as well as various real estate developments.
• Keeping and Disseminating Records: It must issue and keep project records available for public review.
•  Disclosures and Advertisements: RERA regulates the advertisements and promotional materials used by developers and agents to ensure that they provide accurate and truthful information to buyers, preventing misleading claims.
• Consumer Grievance Redressal: RERA establishes a mechanism for addressing consumer complaints and disputes. It provides a platform for buyers to file complaints against developers, and RERA facilitates their resolution through mediation or adjudication.
• Store Promoters Database:  It must retain a database of all projects containing proof as well as images of the promoters or enterprises whose licenses were canceled.
• Obligation Compliance: It is responsible for ensuring that all requirements imposed on builders, property allottees, and estate agents are met.
• Order Compliance: It must ensure that all of its rules and regulations are followed.
•  Keep Track of All Real Estate Agents: The RERA authority must keep track of all real estate agents. It also keep details and photos of agents whose licenses have been revoked or suspended.

Benefits of the RERA Act, 2016:

The RERA Act brought significant advantages to India's real estate sector:

• Statutory Regulation: It enforced statutory regulation on real estate projects, ensuring adherence to guidelines and timelines.

• Completion Assurance: Buyers gained assurance of project completion, reducing the risk of investing in delayed or abandoned projects.

• Statutory Obligations: Developers and buyers had statutory obligations, emphasising compliance with legal mandates.

• Access to Funds: RERA approval made projects more appealing to financial institutions, granting developers easier access to funds.

• Buyer Satisfaction: RERA-approved projects offered transparency, adhered to timelines, and complied with regulations, resulting in higher buyer satisfaction.

• Beneficial for All: The positive impact of RERA extended to developers, real estate agents, and buyers, benefiting the entire real estate ecosystem.

Key Points:

• 35 States/UTs have established Real Estate Regulatory Authorities.

• 29 States/UTs have set up Appellate Tribunals, while 27 have appointed Adjudicating Officers.

• 1,51,113 projects and 1,06,545 agents are registered under RERA.

• 1,47,383 complaints have been disposed of by Real Estate Regulatory Authorities nationwide.

Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP)

Land administration and its management are diverse in the form of language, culture, regions, topography, nomenclature and socio-economic factors. In this milieu, digitization of land records with accuracy and updated status and access to these by the public in easy and online mode becomes very important. Though the land and its management (Entry No.18 and 45 of the State List of the 7th Schedule of the constitution) fall in the domain of the States, Government of India has always been assisting the States/UTs by way of financial assistance and technical support to digitize the land records and place the same in the public domain.

DILRMP is a Government of India initiative launched in 2016 to modernize the management of Land Records, minimize the scope of land/property disputes and enhance transparency in the land records maintenance system. The earlier National Land Records Modernization Programme (NILRMP), approved in 2008 as a centrally Sponsored Scheme, has been revamped as the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) a Central Sector Scheme with 100% Central Government funding with effect from 1st April 2016. The scheme has been extended by Ministry of Finance from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs.875.00 crores and with addition of two new components viz. Computerization of all Revenue Courts in the country & their integration with land records and consent based linking of Aadhaar number with Records of Rights (RoR).

Objective:

The objective of DILRMP is to develop a modern, comprehensive and transparent land record management system with the aim to develop an Integrated Land Information Management System, which will inter-alia-

1. Improve real-time information on land.
2. Optimize use of land resources.
3. Benefit both landowners & prospectors.
4. Assist in policy & planning.
5. Reduce land disputes.
6. Check fraudulent transactions.
7. Obviate need of physical visits to Revenue/Registration offices.
8. Enable sharing of information with various organisations/agencies.

Integrated Land Information Management System:

Seamless access to land records related information can be very effective for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of services/benefits of Central/State Government Departments. The effectiveness in delivery of services to stakeholders depends upon the uniformity, interoperability, and compatibility for sharing of land records related information among different stakeholders. Development of a comprehensive integrated land information management system would work as the main driver for development of infrastructure, economic growth of the country; more so because livelihood of majority of the rural population of our country is dependent on land resources. This can be achieved through active participation of States/UTs.
DILRMP is a tool to achieve a modern, comprehensive and transparent land record management system with the aim to develop an Integrated Land Information Management System which will inter alia provide error-free, transparent and tamper-proof land records by adopting modern technology such as AI, Machine Learning and Block chain technology thereby providing security of tenancy to citizen, reduce land disputes, simplify procedure of transfer of property title, assist in policy / planning etc.

Major components and activities of DILRMP:

The programme has the following major components and activities:

S.No	Component	Activities
1	Computerization of Land Records	(i) Computerization of Record of Rights; (ii) Digitization of cadastral maps; (iii) Integration of Record of Rights (textual) and cadastral maps (spatial); (iv) Data centres at state level.
2	Computerization of Registration	(i) Computerization of Sub Registrar Offices (SROs); (ii) Connectivity between Sub-registrar offices and Tehsils; and (iii) Integration of registration and land records.
3	Survey / Resurvey	Survey / resurvey and updating of survey & settlement records.
4	Modern Record Rooms	Modern Record rooms / Land records management Centres at tehsil level.
5	Training & Capacity building	Creation of DILRMP Cells at Administrative Training Institutes and / or the Survey / Revenue / Patwari Training Institutes of States
6	Project Management Unit	To provide human resources and other infrastructure to provide support for the effective implementation of various components of DILRMP.
7	Computerization of Revenue Court Management System	Computerization of all Revenue Courts in the country and their integration with Land records.
8	Integration of Aadhaar number with the land record database on voluntary basis	To link Aadhaar number with Records of Rights (RoR).