Orissa High Court issues stay on apartment registration notice

Cuttack: Orissa High Court has given a stay on the state government’s notification issued regarding apartment registration rules. The government had notified that there is no problem relating to registration of apartments completed before the RERA Act.

But now the Orissa High Court has issued a stay on it. The High Court has given a stay on the notification issued by the Urban Development Department on February 1.

The notification read as follows:

“Without prejudice to any existing Acts and Rules, it is hereby clarified that Registration Authorities shall not deny the registration of any apartment citing provisions of OAOM Act, if the apartment was completed before the commencement of RERA in the State, i.e. prior to 25th February, 2017. Accordingly, the Department of Revenue & Disaster Management will be requested to issue suitable instructions to the Registration Officers to facilitate the registration of such apartments.”

The next hearing of the case will be next Wednesday. The bench of Acting Chief Justice Justice Arindam Sinha and Justice Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo has given this stay. It is worth noting that Bimalendu Pradhan had approached the High Court arguing that the apartments completed before the RERA Act were also within the scope of the RERA Act. After hearing the argument, the High Court has ordered the Urban Development Department to file a reply at the earliest.