ORDER :

B. VIJAYSEN REDDY, J.

This writ petition is filed seeking a direction from this Court to declare the to issue an appropriate writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Prohibition (A) prohibiting the respondent No.2 from proceeding further with Complaint No.187 of 2024 by declaring that the respondent No.2 has no jurisdiction to entertain, hear or decide Complaint No.187 of 2024 pending before it filed under Section 31 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA Act) by the respondent No.4 against the petitioners as being patently illegal, in contravention of Rule 2(J) of the Telangana State Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2017 (‘RERA Rules’) and (B)consequently dismiss the Complaint No.187 of 2024 pending before the respondent No.2 as not maintainable and (C) pass such other order or orders.

2. The petitioners are absolute owners of the land admeasuring Ac.24.11 guntas in Survey Nos.159/Part and 162/Part, Gopanpally Village, Serilingampally Mandal, Ranga Reddy District, Telangana (schedule property). The petitioners applied for building permission from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the same was granted vide Permit No.2581/HO/WZ/Cir-11/2010 dated 08.06.2011 for development of gated community with 105 independent houses along with 6 units for LIG and 6 units for EWS. The building permission was originally valid for a period of 3 years till 07.06.2014, which was later extended for a period of six years as per Rule 19(d) of G.O.Ms.No.168 dated 07.04.2012 and amended Rule 19(d) vide G.O.Ms.No.7 dated 05.01.2016.

3. It is submitted that pursuant to the building permit, the petitioners developed the schedule property land into a layout with plotted area and several plots were sold under registered sale deeds. There is no dispute with respect to sale of plots by the petitioners. Some of the plot owners entered into independent construction contracts with the petitioner No.1 for construction or completion of under-construction villas. The said independent contracts were entered with individuals by the petitioner No.1 alone and therefore, cannot be brought within the purview of Telangana State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TSRERA).

4. It is submitted that the RERA Act was enacted by the Parliament, which came into effect from 01.05.2016. Section 3 of the RERA Act provides for registration of real estate projects. The proviso to Section 3 of the Act provides that the projects that are ongoing on the date of commencement of the RERA Act and for which the completion certificate has not been issued, the promoter shall make an application to the Authority for registration of the said project within a period of three months from the date of commencement of the RERA Act. As per the RERA Act, the Government of Telangana enacted the RERA Rules, which were published vide G.O.Ms.No.202 dated 31.07.2017. Rule 2(j) of the Rules, 2017 defines ‘ongoing project’. The term ‘ongoing project’ is not defined under the RERA Act.

5. It is submitted that the petitioners’ project ‘Pristine Estates’ is exempt from registration under RERA Act in view of the Rule 2(j) and thereby, the provisions of RERA Act will not apply to the project permitted vide GHMC Building Permit Order No:2581/HO/MZ/Cir- 11/2010, dated 08.06.2011. As the project was approved before 01.01.2017, the provisions of the RERA Act would not apply and therefore, no complaint can be entertained by the respondent No.2 against the petitioners.

6. It is submitted that the respondent No.4 was registered with ill-motive by some of the owners on 21.10.2022. The Respondent No.4 is not representing the owners of entire community of Pristine Estates. The respondent No.4 – association was formed without intimation to all owners with ulterior motive. The members of respondent No.4 are defaulters of payment of maintenance charges and deposits to the owners and to avoid payments they formed into an association and t