The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA) in its Office Memorandum dated 13 May 2020 (Advisory) has declared the current pandemic as a force majeure event for the purposes of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 (RERA) and extended the timelines for registration and completion of real estate projects.
The circular dated 13.5.2020 issued by Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Punjab (RERA) whereby it extended the period of validity of registration of projects by six months was challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the Matter of Vinod Kumar v. Union of India and others CWP-8781-2020 decided on dated 30.06.2020 whereas the High court held that “we are not impressed by the argument. We fail to understand the need for passing a omnibus order giving protection to all the projects in State of Punjab, particularly when the Act has a specific provision for entertaining an application on behalf of the promoter/builder for extension of time. There is no doubt that 'Force Majeure' clause can be invoked for this purpose. However, the applicant who would approach the RERA would have to convince it that he has been forced by circumstances beyond his control to continue with the Project. Surprisingly, the circular may even give protection to those promoters/builders whose registration may have expired long back. The intent of the advisory issued by the Government of India was certainly not to accommodate such defaulters. We, thus, find something palpably wrong with the circular. Thus, operation of impugned circular dated 13.5.2020 (Annexure P-1) is hereby stayed.
