BY SRELJ Bureau
In a landmark judgement, Maharashtra Real Estate Tribunal ruled that Agriculture lands which have not received Non Agriculture permissions, do not fall under the jurisdiction and need not register with RERA Authorities.
Hearing an appeal in the matter of Mohammed Zain Khan vs Emnoy Properties India, Hon’ble Tribunal have upheld that Agriculture land and plot which have not received NA permissions are not Real Estate Projects and hence should not be registered.
The Hon’ble Tribunal observed ” We find that by applying the above observations to the facts of the case in hand, the Authority observes in para 10 of the order that the land under this Project is admittedly an agricultural land and till date no N.A. permission or order is granted by competent Authority to develop the same. Consequently, the Authority has held that the subject project is not a real estate project as defined under Section 2(zn) of the Act and the same cannot be registered under Section 3 of the Act. ”
The Hon’ble Tribunal further added: “We have given a thoughtful consideration to the relevant provisions of the Act. In our view the real estate project as defined under Section 2(zn) contemplates development of land into plots or apartments. In case of an agricultural land, as is the case in the instant appeal, to be designated as a real estate project, necessary permissions are required to effect the development of the said land. Compliance of such a requirement also seems essential from the perspective of provisions under Section 11(4) detailing therein the obligations of a promoter and Section 4 for mandating the requirements of certain documents/ permissions necessary for registration of the project under Section 3 of the Act. In this regard, we note that Complainant has utterly failed to establish that the said land had all necessary N.A. or other permissions for its development and for undertaking its registration as real estate project under the Act.”