RERA Authority has no jurisdiction to review municipal completion certificates issued prior to the RERA Act's enforcement, maintaining their validity unless declared otherwise by competent municipal authorities.

JUDGMENT :

Amitendra Kishore Prasad, J.

1. Heard Mr. B.P. Sharma, Mr. Vivek Chopda and Mr. Pushp Kumar Gupta, learned counsel for the appellants. Also heard Mr. Manoj Paranjpe, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Ms. Shivangi Agrawal and Ms. Surya Kawalkar Dangi, learned counsel appearing for the respondent.

2. The appellants have filed the instant miscellaneous appeal with the following prayer :-

“It is, therefore, prayed that this Hon'ble Court be pleased ex-debitojustiae, call for the record of the case, admit the appeal on the aforesaid questions of law or any other questions of law, as this Hon'ble Court deem fit, and after hearing the parties in the matter, set aside the impugned order passed by the authority below and in effect allow the application for dismissal of appeal and in consequence thereof the Appeal No. 240/2023 and the complaint filed by the Respondent be dismissed, and/or pass such other orders in favour of the appellants herein as this Hon'ble Court deem fit in the facts and circumstances of the case.”

3. Brief facts of the case for disposal of this appeal are that a complaint was instituted by the respondent-society under Section 31 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (for short, ‘RERA Act’) alleging that the appellants, i.e. developers of Jeevan Vihar Colony situated within Nagar Panchayat, Bodri, District Bilaspur (C.G.) had failed to provide the basic amenities and facilities promised in their brochure, including roads, drains, electricity, boundary wall, streetlights, seven developed gardens, transformer, water supply, borewell, pump house and guard room. It was alleged that although the colony was sanctioned for development and the plots were largely sold, the development work remained incomplete since 2016 and the amenities available were of poor quality, dilapidated and not in conformity with requisite standards.

4. Upon issuance of notice, the appellants entered appearance before the Regulatory Authority and raised preliminary objections regarding the maintainability of the complaint. However, despite hearing arguments only on the objection, the Authority, without affording an opportunity of hearing on merits, proceeded to finally decide the complaint by order dated 11.01.2023. The said order was assailed by the appellants by way of an appeal under Section 44 of the RERA Act, wherein an interim order staying the operation of the impugned order was passed. Simultaneously, the respondents also filed Appeal No.143/2023 challenging the rejection of their certain claims. Both appeals came to be disposed of by order dated 16.10.2023 whereby the matter was remanded to the RERA with directions to grant opportunity of hearing to both sides, appoint a Commissioner to ascertain the status of amenities, record evidence, and examine the validity of the completion certificates dated 22.03.2017 and 20.02.2018 in the light of Rule 11(viii) of the Chhattisgarh Municipal Corporation and Municipalities (Registration of Colonizer, Terms and Conditions) Rules, 2013 (for short, ‘Rules of 2013’), to be concluded within two months.

5. Post-remand, the parties appeared before the Authority, a Commissioner was appointed and a report dated 31.10.2023 was submitted, opining that all development works had been completed in 2016, though presently in a dilapidated condition due to lack of maintenance. The Chief Municipal Officer (CMO), Nagar Panchayat Bodri, was examined on 29.11.2023 and confirmed issuance of both completion certificates, explaining that the certificate dated 20.02.2018 was only a clerical correction of the earlier certificate dated 22.03.2017. On this basi