Consumers’ & Builders’ Bodies come together to provide Speedy Relief through Conciliation to aggrieved Home Buyers

Joint Initiative by CREDAI-Maharashtra, CREDAI-MCHI , CREDAI-Pune Metro, Mumbai GrahakPunchayat, (MGP) and NAREDCO under MahaRERA

Conciliation Forum – First of Its Kind under RERA

Come 1st February and aggrieved home-buyers can look forward to an early and amicable resolution of their disputes with builders. The initiative of Mumbai GrahakPanchayat (MGP), a leading consumer body has been responded positively by,CREDAI-Maharashtra, CREDAI-MCHI(Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry),CREDAI-Pune Metro andNational Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) with full support and guidance from MahaRERA.

Sec 32 (g) of RERA provides for such Conciliation, which is an Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) for disputes under RERA. MGP’s initiative was first welcomed by MahaRERA Chairman Shri. Gautam Chatterjee, who took up this proposal with NAREDCO, MCHI & CREDAI. After a series of meetings with office-bearers of all these bodies along with MahaRERA Chairman & Secretary, an elaborate Conciliation Scheme has been formulated which will come into effect from 1st February 2018.

Conciliation Panels:There will be 10 Conciliation Benches set up for Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and 5 Benches for Pune Region. Each Bench will have one Conciliator of MGP and one from either CREDAI-Maharashtra, CREDAI-MCHI or NAREDCO.The Conciliators recently underwent extensive training in Conciliation skills organized by MahaRERA. (List of Conciliators from Mumbai & Pune attached)

Location of Conciliation Benches:
In Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the Conciliation Benches will be functional, for time being, from offices of MahaRERA (Bandra – East), MGP’s GrahakBhavan at JVPD Scheme, Vile Parle; NAREDCO office in Powai& Thane, CREDAI-MCHI& NAREDCO offices in Churchgate and CREDAI-MCHI& NAREDCO offices in Thane.

In Pune, Conciliation Benches will operate from MahaRERA office located in Aundh, Pune and from CREDAI-Pune Metro office located at Nucleus Jeejeebhoy tower, Camp, Pune.In near future, the conciliation benches are also going to be set up in other Regions.

Functioning of the Conciliation Benches:Anyaggrieved Allottee or the Promoter (as defined under REAR) can invoke Conciliation mechanism set up by MahaRERA. For this purpose a dedicated website has been created and one can have access to it even via MahaRERA website. Following is the road-map of functioning of the Conciliation.

Ø The Party initiating the Conciliation will file his/her on-line application and the same will be automatically emailed to the other side party.

Ø The other side party has to convey his consent for Conciliation within 7 days.

Ø On receipt of the consent from the other side party, the first party shall make payment of Fees ( Rs 1000/- plus GST).

Ø Thereafter, the matter will be referred to the appropriate Conciliation Bench and the Parties will be intimated the Date, Time and Venue of the Hearing.

Ø Both parties are expected to be present in person or through their authorized representatives. (No Advocates are allowed.)

Ø Both the Conciliators will facilitate resolution of dispute between the parties in an informal and amicable manner. (In doing so, the Conciliators will not be bound by Civil Procedure Code or Indian Evidence Act.)

Ø If the parties agree to any settlement, the Consent Agreement will be drawn, which will be signed by the Parties concerned and the Conciliators.

Ø If any Party, after signing the Consent Agreement, fails or neglects to comply with the Consent Terms, the same will be treated as breach of MahaRERA Order and MahaRERA will take due cognizance of the same.

Ø In case, the Parties fail to reach an amicable settlement, the Conciliation process will stand terminated and the Parties concerned will be at liberty to pursue their dispute before MahRERADispute Redressal mechanism or before any other Court or forum.

Time Line for Resolution of Dispute: The Conciliation Bench is expected to arrive at the settlement within 45 days from the date of reference to the Bench.

MahaRERA Conciliation & Disputes Resolution Forum: The functioning of the Conciliation Panels will be guided and monitored by MahaRERA Conciliation & Disputes Resolution Forum (the Conciliation Forum, for short). The said Conciliation Forum shall comprise of a Core Committee, consisting of two representatives each of MGP, CREDAI-Maharashtra CREDAI-MCHI, CREDAI-Pune Metroand NAREDCO. The Committee will be headed by the Secretary, MahaRERA.

The Conciliation Process will go on-line from 1st February 2018 and the Hearings before the Conciliation Benches is expected to commence from 1st week of March 2018.

Maharashtra will be the first state in India to initiate the Conciliation mechanism under Sec 32 (g) of RERA, by way of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

MGP, NAREDCO, MCHI & CREDAIwholeheartedly compliment MahaRERA Chairman Shri Gautam Chatterjee,MahaRERA Secretary Dr VasantPrabhu, MahaRERA Members Mr BhalchandraKapadnis& Dr Vijay Satbir Singh for their full support and guidance for this new experiment intended to provide speedy relief to aggrieved consumers in Real Estate sector.We also appreciate the training imparted by Mr Ajay Mehta in Conciliation Skills to the Conciliators.

We all do hope that Consumers and Promoters will respond positively to this new initiative jointly undertaken by CREDAI-Maharashtra, CREDAI-MCHI, CREDAI-Pune Metro andNAREDCO. We also count of full media support for creating widespread awareness among the concerned stakeholders and help us set an example that can be emulated by other states in India.