Page 45 - RERA Performance Report 2020

45 U.P. RERA PERFORMANCE REPORT 2020

Chapter 6

The Adjudication Proceedings

By Piyush Chandra Srivastava &
Chaitanya Kumar Kulshrestha
Adjudicating Officers U.P. RERA

The word ‘compensation’ has not been defined in The Real Estate (Regulation and
Development) Act 2016. According to the Oxford dictionary, compensation is typically
money, awarded in recognition of loss, suffering or injury. Other words like repayment,
reimbursement, remuneration, requital, indemnity, redress and more may be used as a
form of compensation. Compensation has been defined in Consumer Protection Act 1986 as
‘any loss injury suffered by the consumer due to negligence of the opposite party’. In the
legal sense, it may constitute actual loss or expected loss and may extend to physical,
mental or even emotional suffering, insult or injury or loss.

The objective of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 is to ensure greater
accountability towards consumers and significantly reduce frauds and delays by the
promoters. It attempts to balance the interest of consumers and promoters by imposing
certain responsibilities on both. If the promoter fails to complete the project, or is unable to
give possession of a unit, he is liable to pay compensation to the allottee.

Compensation can be given to anyone who has suffered a loss, be it mental, physical or
financial. RERA facilitates the allottee to get compensation from a promoter in matters of
delay in possession and other conditions as provided in the Act. The procedure adopted for
the compensation is called adjudication and the person who gives judgements for such
cases is called an Adjudicating officer. An allottee, who claims compensation, needs to
register a complaint on the website of UP RERA. After registration, the opposite party gets
an intimation notice, containing the date of the hearing. The applicant and the opposite
party must give all necessary details, stating reasons why he/she deserves compensation
and similarly why the opposite party contests the claim for compensation. The value of
compensation is calculated either by calculating the total rent paid and bank interest on
property’s cost. Most of the cases are closed within 4-5 months, quite a handful are closed
within two months depending on the availability of the documentary evidence and the
polarity of a case.

Section 71 of the RERA Act provides for appointment of Adjudicating officers for
determination of compensation to allottees. The Authority on 2nd April 2019 in consultation
with the Government appointed Adjudicating officers for Lucknow and Greater Noida
offices for adjudication of compensation as provided in the Act.

The allottees file complaints with RERA and the Authority decides the complaint. If the
complainant has requested for compensation also, the Authority refers the complaint to the
Adjudicating Officer for deciding the compensation. The allottee has the facility to file
online complaint for compensation in Form N which is then heard and decided by the
Adjudicating Officer as per the provisions of the Act.