Calcutta High Court Seeks State's Response In PIL Alleging Non-Implementation Of RERA In West Bengal

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday sought response from the State government in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) alleging that members of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and the Appellate Tribunal have not yet been appointed in West Bengal despite the State government having notified the establishment of the West Bengal Real Estate Regulatory Authority and the the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal. 

The counsel appearing for the petitioner apprised a Bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj that the State government vide notification dated July 29, 2021 had notified the establishment of the RERA Authority in West Bengal. 

Pertinently, during the proceedings the counsel for the petitioner further submitted that as per his knowledge, the Chief Justice has appointed Justice Harish Tandon to head a high powered committee for selecting the members of the RERA authority and the Appellate Tribunal. 

The Bench was further apprised that while the State government has notified RERA rules, established the RERA Authority and the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal, it has yet to appoint the personnel therein thereby making the RERA authority in the State almost defunct. It was further contended that the Chairman and the members of the RERA authority are yet to be appointed by the State government. 

The petitioner informed the Bench that although he had received a favourable order from the now disbanded West Bengal Housing Industry Regulatory Authority (WBHIRA) he was unable to enforce the order in his favour since there is no authority to enforce the same. 

It may be noted that the Supreme Court last year had struck down the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act, 2017( WBHIRA), holding it to be unconstitutional in view of the 2017 Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) which is the central legislation on the identical subject-matter.

Taking cognisance of the grievance raised, the Court asked the State government to file its response within a period of 4 weeks. Any reply if required was directed to be filed within 2 weeks thereafter. 

Case Title: Partha Sarathi Dutta v. State of West Bengal and Ors