The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 31st May, 2017: One month has passed since Maharashtra's Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) came into force, but its significance hasn't yet been understood by the legal community. Wrongly advised by lawyers, aggrieved flat-buyers continue to go to the police, magistrate, civil court, etc, instead of approaching MahaRERA and/or its Adjudicating Officer. For example, today's newspaper carried this story about builder Yusuf Lakdawala getting an FIR filed about a penthouse that he purchase d from Dhiraj builders. The FIR was reportedly registered after Yusuf Lakdawala approached Bombay High Court. However, this FIR will eventually be quashed, or police will not file chargesheet, as the matter belongs to the jurisdiction of Real Estate Regulatory Authority. Yes, Lakdawala's clever lawyers may have managed to procure a high-court order for the FIR to be filed, but this FIR will not stand the test of law as the case progresses. But this is a serious matt...

25th May, 2017, Mumbai: Aggrieved investors and flat-buyers generally want compensation, repayment with interest, and penalites imposed on builder. Under the RERA Act, they can file a complaint (" Form A ") against the builder before Real Estate Regulatory Authority OR a claim for compensation (" Form B ") before the Adjudicating Officer. What kind of offences of the builder will attract only penalty, and for which offences can you seek compensation? Below, we will colour-code the sections for your guidance. Blue highlight is for matters related to only penalty, and yellow highlight is for matters where you can seek compensation . If you have suffered a loss due to the faults of the builder, for which you want him to compensate you and/or pay you interest, then the matter will go before the Adjudicating Authority who will decide the amount of compensation and interest.  Form A ("Complaint") is as per Section 31 of the Real Estate Regulation Act. ...

19th May, 2017: There appears to be a widespread campaign to malign Maharashtra's Real Estate Regulatory Authority as being biased in favour of builders, and not in accordance with the central Real Estate Regulation Act, 2016. This is a false story cunningly planted by the builder lobby, intended to deter citizens and flat-buyers from filing complaints against builders. The truth is that MahaRERA, as Maharashtra's Real Estate Regulatory Authority is known, is going to be the most strict taskmaster that builders have ever faced in Independent India! A fun way to understand what I am saying is to watch these two Marathi videos: Gautam Chatterjee & Ramesh Prabhu explain RERA's Effect on Building Industry A Seriously Funny Discussion on RERA with Navi Mumbai Builders It is as if a tsunami has reached the Mumbai coastline, and is about to hit the builders who have been taking not only flat-buyers and investors, but also the whole country for a ride. After this tsu...

8 th  May, 2017: Last week, I was served with notice of a Civil Suit filed against myself and one more person (Mr Vineet Malik) by Ekta Parksville Homes Pvt. Ltd, ("Plaintiff"). This civil suit filed in Vasai Civil Court attempts to gain the court's sympathy by mixing up several unrelated matters, and wrongly invokes the court's territorial jurisdiction to pass temporary injunction against Mr Malik ("Defendent no. 1") and myself ("Defendant no. 2"), in order to suppress certain truths about Ekta's way of doing business from becoming known to a wider public.  In this present article, I intend to analyze the infirmities of (a) the civil suit no 36 of 2017 in Vasai Civil Court, (b) the temporary injunction passed by this court against me, and (c) the gag order sought against me under "Order 39 Rule 2A of CPC".  I sincerely believe that no law prevents me -- as a journalist, a citizen and a defendant -- from publicly analyzing the le...