BENGALURU: The Registrar of Cooperative Societies has replied to a homebuyers letter stating that it has nothing to do with the transfer of common area at a residential apartment complex to the homebuyers by the builder. This particular response from the Registrar of Cooperative Societies’ is suggesting that the state government is not committed to enabling the Real Estate Regulatory Authority-Karnataka (RERA) to effectively function for the benefit of home buyers.
It may be recalled that homebuyers Dhananjay Padmanabhachar and Commander Surendra (Veteran) wrote to the Karnataka Governor on July 19, complaining that the government has not issued any directions to the builders under Section 17 of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority—Karnataka Act, 2017, to transfer the common area at residential apartment complexes to the flat owners. The Governor’s Office had then forwarded the complaint to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, advising them to look into the matter.
However, the Registrar of Cooperative Societies has advised the complainants to approach RERA, or Urban Development Department, by submitting separate applications as the issue does not come under the jurisdiction of cooperative societies.
Moreover, the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972, states the Registrar of Cooperative Societies as the competent authority as defined in the Karnataka Cooperative Societies Act, 1959.
Meanwhile, Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar, Sanchalak, Karnataka Home Buyers Forum, said that as per Section 3 of the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act 1972, the competent authority is the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, but unfortunately, the state government has failed to issue Gazette notifications or government orders declaring the above-mentioned body as competent authority since 1972, when the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act came into existence.
“We have reached out to all the government departments, including housing, urban development, and revenue departments, to give us suitable directions so that the apartment association gets competent authority, which has been pending for decades. The government of Karnataka declared in February that they were planning to come up with a new Apartment Ownership Act to resolve the issue.
However, there are no updates from the state government on the proposed act even after six months,’’ said Padmanabhachar. He further added that cases are piling up in the RERA and in the courts on this particular matter.
