New Delhi: The Supreme Court, which has, on several occasions, emphasised that a uniform agreement is in larger public interest, on Monday February 14 told the Central government to examine if rules were adopted by state governments in connection with developing a model builder-buyer agreement.
A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant appointed advocate Devashish Bharuka as amicus curiae in the matter.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, contended that statutory rules have been framed and notified by many state governments, barring West Bengal and some states in the NorthEast region.
After hearing arguments in the matter, the top court directed the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, to scrutinise, if there was deviation in the rules framed by the Centre and state governments.
Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for the petitioner advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, urged the top court to pass a direction for a minimum set of guidelines for the protection of the consumers.
The bench said ASG Bhati, who has suggested this course of action, states that all necessary facilities will be granted to the amicus curiae in coordination with the Union Ministry of Housing and sought a report in the matter.
Bhati submitted that the model builder-buyer agreement has already been circulated and adopted and it was also mentioned in the counter-affidavit filed by the Centre.
On January 17, the Supreme Court had told the Centre that it does not favour individual state governments to have a builder-buyer agreement, and rather prefers a national-level model agreement, to deter builders from fleecing unwitting homebuyers.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affair, in an affidavit, said: “It is submitted that the prayer against answering respondent is infructuous, as there is a robust regulatory mechanism and draft ‘agreement for sale’ has already been prescribed under the provisions of RERA which seeks to balance the rights and interest of homebuyers and promoters in an accountable and transparent manner.”
The top court was hearing a PIL by Upadhyay, to protect home buyers from exploitative practices by the real estate developers. The plea sought a direction to the Centre to frame model builder-buyer and agent-buyer agreements to ensure uniformity across the country.
Upadhyay’s plea claimed that the root cause of hardships caused to the petitioner is the agreement of sale and construction, which is manifestly one-sided and does not place the homebuyer on an equal platform as a promoter. The plea said that neither did the Central government enforce the ‘model builder buyer agreement’ in the spirit of RERA nor did the state governments take action against promoters.
