Cabinet gives nod to Real Estate Bill

The Union Cabinet approved on Tuesday the Bill to set up a regulator for the real estate sector with provisions for a jail term for the developer for putting out misleading advertisements about projects.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, approved by the Cabinet, seeks to provide a uniform regulatory environment to the sector.

It also intends to make it mandatory for developers to launch projects only after acquiring all statutory clearances from relevant authorities.

The Bill has provisions under which all relevant clearances for real estate projects would have to be submitted to the regulator and also displayed on a website before starting the construction, sources said.

The proposed legislation has tough provisions to deter builders from putting out misleading advertisements related to the projects carrying photographs of the actual site.

Failure to do so for the first time would attract a penalty which may be up to 10 per cent of the project cost and a repeat offence could land the developer in jail.