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“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
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“The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules...”―
is a pseudonymous England-based Street artist, political activist, and film director. He has never publicly confirmed his identity. I don’t wonder as with such kind of opinions about system (govt) it’s better to hide your identity for obvious reasons as in coming days I might also feel to do same (lol, sarcasm), but till I can write with my own name, let’s do as much I can! If it’s a boon for being able to express what you feel about rightness then curse is time & again you have to write about right things, means wrongness is increasing (read as, on rampage). And if you are frowning who I am to say my right is right, then let me tell you I am not saying to believe what is right or wrong just because I say so as one, I don’t have any authority to do say so (read as nuisance power) & two, the beauty of right is even if thousands or millions say so, yet it doesn’t change unless you change the sides, which till now I haven’t, so be it! Ok, enough of philosophy or Gyan. com & subject of sharing is already enough frustrating i.e. RERA, real estate regulatory act & it also has Development in it i.e. Real Estate regulation & Development Act 2016, which most people (including Mai-Baap govt) conveniently forget. Yesterday only I came across an article about the decade of RERA i.e. ten years of its implementation & things happening on the front of real estate which is triggering this sharing. I really sometimes wonder as penning down such thoughts, does it really matter anymore, especially the way things are moving around on social, religious & communal fronts, who has time for logic, yet I feel is, I can think,so I must write & share! The article was sceptical as usual & blamed authorities as well to the builders (what else) for not being effectively implementing provisions of RERA rather said it’s just official gateway for builders to cheat customers (in subtle way) & it’s in Times on 8th / 9th Sept26, you can verify is feel I am wrong. And I am not counter arguing or supporting that article but just putting forward my version about it because it directly affects my profession or business or say bread-butter i.e. real estate.
Ok, we all know why RERA came into existence but the point is how much it has been effective & who has actually done any survey for the same. And do mind, it was always painted that RERA came to straighten up the builders & in favour of the home buyers who were usually shown as poor good guys put up against bad guys i.e. builders. It may be true in some States & with few builders. But nobody asked how the builders could create such a monopoly that in a market which is usually governed by the buyer, real estate remained always the seller's market? As there lies the answer of success (or failure) of RERA is what I always think. The system which makes homes i.e. real estate was so cumbersome (it still is) that only a select few could buy land & give finished product i.e. homes & that’s why they could govern the market. No more that scene remains as nearly a decade back (2014 exactly) I am not referring to any political party but the govt changed & so did the policies related to real estate & today there is enough supply of FSI which is raw material for homes & this is no more for select few. Any moneyed person can become a builder & make home, technology is there & so are professional hands, & suddenly it’s no more seller’s market. Agreed unlike any other product real estate still has certain limitations & advantages yet with more supply & competition now the buyer has choice & even at prime locations the builder has to wait for clients & it’s a good sign for the industry actually! But on this background RERA frankly has become a hurdle for the developers as today go to RERA website & try doing anything online from your end right from registration to change in any specification or date of possession even for valid reasons, and share your experience. This has given rise to RERA consultants, which itself is a defeat of the RERA as why you need such layers when the act is for easing the real estate at large & both sides of it, is the question we must ask to the authorities!
And then RERA has always painted as a tool (read as weapon) against the builder which wasn’t the case, it was supposed to be a set of rules or a system to ease out dealings of real estate, has it achieved the purpose or done any extraordinary change in the industry? Well, barring in every advertisement you have to mention RERA registration number nothing as changed, the builders who used to deliver homes on time, always used to post all the information in their broutures & on websites, I am doing it since my first project as that’s what a right business house does! If I want to sell my homes, I must give a fair product is simple law of any business & real estate also is no exception to this law, so why we need RERA & if we need it then why it’s not user friendly for both sides of the deal, is the question I want to ask to the authorities! There are delays in everything related to RERA registration is a fact & I am not just blaming for the sake of blaming as I respect RERA & its purpose but does RERA understand my difficulties & is open to improve, in time, is the question! And then the way Rights of Information has become a pain for all seriously working govt people, same way RERA has become a pain for genuine developers because those who want to cheat, they will cheat anyways is the scene. And for that the biggest culprit is the govt itself & I am doing this statement in my full senses! Because who is the enemy of a developer who follows every rule & has RERA registration, well it is the illegal homes & makers as well buyers of them & govt keeps on regularising these illegal homes making people doesn’t fear or believe in laws like RERA, is my point of objection!
And then the very same govt justifies regularizing illegal homes under the name of accommodating poor or needy or innocent home buyers while the very same govt appeals through its advertisements, not to buy a home without RERA registration, isn’t this a two-faced stand by the govt itself?
On the top of it, RERA overlooks responsibility of the major stakeholder in real estate i.e. govt as from every rupee a home generates govt (local bodies like PMC & such) are also beneficiary of the home sale but when it comes to giving infrastructure the govt puts on the builder which RERA doesn’t take any objection rather forces builder to accept such unjust, why? RERA holds responsible even to the agents selling these homes who gets merely 2% commission but don’t do anything to warn the govt or civic bodies which takes nearly 15% to 20% of the project revenues under various heads from the projects approved by RERA, why? If this is about revenue sharing then the very govt makes weird policies such as inclusive housing by which govt asks the builder to build 20% area of construction for urban poor & hand over to the local authority without giving any clarity about making cost of such homes, their allotments or maintenance post possession just because govt wants to give home to urban poor but doesn’t have any mean to build them! The govt changes overnight policies related to housing & even cancels Development Plans putting crores of rupees investment of the builders in dark but RERA keeps mum, why? Just because developers supposedly have made sins in the past & now, they must pay for their past, does this way justice is delivered? And then even for genuine reasons such as war if RERA issues a blanket NOC for postponing possession date by mere four months, it's painted as working under pressure of builder’s lobby & against common home buyers, which isn’t true but, who cares! First, understand that for no other industry such special law or any authority has been created even DGCA (Body governing Aviation Industry) which is for airlines can’t do anything about the monopoly of few airlines & where end user’s (read as clients) life safety is directly involved in industry like aviation! Yet builders accepted RERA while the so-called Ease of Doing Business remains just an imaginary term for real estate which RERA must look into!
Here, I want to share a story (sarcastic joke actually), “On a busy morning a businessman dressed UpToDate, rushes in Deccan Queen (a prestigious train connecting Mumbai Pune) & as he is late, he just jumps in without a ticket in the train. When TC comes, he finds the businessman doesn’t have a ticket & asks him to pay a fine as well get down from the train on the next station as in Deccan Queen you can only travel with reservation. Ove this the businessman told the TC about him rushing & sorry for being unable to buy a ticket as he was rushing & is ready to pay the fine & let him travel to Mumbai. The TC said fine anyway you have to pay but sorry, he has to get down at the next station, is the rule! The businessman’s eyes caught a beggar sitting in the passageway of bogie & he pointed towards the beggar & asked the TC, the begger surely doesn’t have a ticket or reservation, how you have allowed him to travel in this train? On that, the TC calmly replied, you dress up like him & sit here, I will allow you also to travel! Presently, this is the situation of a builder with RERA, who is doing everything legally, is my subject of sharing! As I mention, high-time for the authorities (read as govt) as well organizations like Credai, MBVA, NARDECO to make a survey & get data of exactly how many proposals registered under RERA has got through to possession & how many proposals are incomplete & why & what RERA has done about them & publish report about it as then only we can make improvement! As I repeat, I am not against RERA or any governing law but it should not become just one more tick in the box for the govt & a hurdle for the industry & a toothless-clawless tiger for the real needy home buyers! Last but not least, I have never understood the logic of appointing an Ex (rtd) senior officer such as Chief Secretary post which is the topmost post of bureaucracy as head of Maha-RERA (State rera authority! Because RERA comes under State’s housing dept & working head of that dept is Additional Chief Secretary or Principal Secretary & actually has worked as a junior under the present RERA Chief, so how he or she can act something against his own Ex Boss, in case any side of RERA i.e. builder or customer has any issue with RERA authority in itself. Or even anybody suggest any changes or wants improvement in RERA rules or systems, if the acting RERA boss is Ex boss of working authority, how we expect the govt to be neutral in case of dispute & this is why on no such authority any Ex senior bureaucrat should be appointed which govt royally ignores! If you want to respect knowledge & experience & to use it then make such Ex-bosses as advisors but not head of some working body which deals directly with industries, is my personal view!
Agreed, a home may be built by some individual builder but there are many agencies are involved in its making and also are beneficiaries & all of them must be answerable to RERA, is what I want to put forward as that will be some positive outcome of making analysis on the occasion of completing ten years to this law which was supposed to be “Sim Sim” key for wellness of the real estate at large than becoming just one more lock itself, adios with this request (not warning)!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2025/12/pune-real-estate-in-2026.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html
https://jeevnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2026/08/
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
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