The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory on October 21 said that the conciliation forums have resolved 1,749 complaints between homebuyers and real estate developers across the state.
The MahaRERA had set up conciliation forums in 2018 to amicably resolve complaints between developers and homebuyers through dispute settlement forums set up by the consumers or promotersโ associations.
“Given the success achieved in Maharashtra, conciliation forums have also been established in many states such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana. Other states are also in communication with MahaRERA to learn about the initiative,” the MahaRERA said in the statement.
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“As the decisions taken by the forums are upheld by MahaRERA, the popularity of the platform is on the rise. Currently, hearings on 533 grievances are underway at the 52 conciliation forums across Maharashtra,โ it said.
Of the total 5,958 cases filed so far, 1,749 have been resolved by the conciliation forums through amicable settlement between the complainant or homebuyers’ and the developers. Therefore, 32.36% of property purchasers benefited in receiving justice in a time bound manner, the MahaRERA said in the statement.
Conciliation forums set up across Maharashtra
Initially, the MahaRERA conciliations forum operated only in Mumbai and Pune regions.Following their popularity, their presence is being ramped up across the state.
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“So far, the conciliation forum in Mumbai has successfully resolved 562 complaints, while the forum in Pune has redressed 530 grievances. Likewise, the forum in Thane has successfully resolved 201 complaints, 169 in Navi Mumbai, 105 in Palghar, 73 in Kalyan, 71 in Vasai, 13 in Nagpur, 9 in Mira Road and 8 each in Raigad and Nashik,” the authority said.
What is a conciliation forum?
Conciliation forums have been set up under Section 32 (g) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 to facilitate amicable conciliation of disputes between developers and homebuyers through dispute settlement forums set up by the consumers or promotersโ associations.
The forum consists of representatives of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat and the promoters’ associations. Under this forum, disputes between homebuyers and developers under the RERA Act are taken up.
In March 2024, former MahaRERA chairman Ajoy Mehta had said that the success rate of conciliation forums is around 35% to 50%.
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“It is much faster and there are no appeals or additions as things get closed. Some cases come back to us but we do cater to those. Around 50% of the cases are getting sorted, which is fairly good,” he had said in March 2024.
