Regulatory authorities lack jurisdiction to adjudicate the validity of completion certificates issued under municipal law. A project certified complete under local municipal statutes before the enforcement of the regulatory regime falls outside the scope of said regime, rendering the certificates prima facie conclusive regarding exemption.

Per 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,