Latest Property News on Gurgaon

Gurgaon: Where developers play by their very own rules

New Delhi: Even as Gurgaon continues to see a demand for property by investors and corporates, it clearly has problems to address — the main ones being bad infrastructure, skewed builder-buyer agreements and the problem of housing being affordable only to those in the high income group.

In a chat with Firstpost, executive director, Cushman and Wakefield India Pvt. Ltd., Manish Aggarwal, said that Gurgaon’s biggest problem was that of infrastructure and not of dipping buyer interest.

Swanky high rises but no basic infrastructure

While Gurgaon’s problems have long been infrastructure, even though nobody mentioned it or looked into it seriously, it has finally hit home.

Fraught with water woes, electricity cuts and bad connectivity, Gurgaon may have some of the top corporates make it home, but it is no secret that it also doesn’t have much basic infrastructure.

Most infrastructure in the city is built by its developers and the least that the government should do is maintain it, Aggarwal told Firstpost. “Gurgaon today lacks water supply, power supply, sewage disposal and road connectivity — despite being sought after by corporates. The government should at the least see that the infrastructure developed by these developers is maintained to an adequate level,” he said.

While Gurgaon’s problems have long been infrastructure, even though nobody mentioned it or looked into it seriously, it has finally hit home. Reuters
And while the new masterplan talks about development of areas beyond Gurgaon — to places like Manesar — where it is again the developers taking initiative to build roads and sewer systems, Aggarwal said that the government should make sure that these infrastructure projects are completed on time so that buyers can enjoy its benefits.

Unregulated sector leads to developers playingby their own rules

As the real estate sector is not regulated, the rules the developers play by are only the ones that govern land and its purchases. “Land is a state subject and different states have different norms — those are the only norms developers follow to develop a property depending on which state they want to develop in and what bye-laws they have to follow,” Aggarwal said.

“In India, because of lack of any real estate governance or any regulator, every developer has his or her kind of own builder-buyer agreement — which you would see is tilted towards the developer’s side and not the consumer’s side,” he added.

However, Aggarwal said that if the government’s initiative to pass the Real Estate Regulators’ Bill comes through, it will help decrease that skew and enable consumers to have clear rights over a property he/she buys from a developer — and to fight for those rights.

“So effectively builder buyer agreements will be more regulated and standardised to an extent where they will be more fair and it will be an equal playing ground for both consumer and developer,” Aggarwal told Firstpost, “It’s the necessity of the day and is good for the sector.”

What the bill will bring in is more transparency for the consumer and the sifting of unscrupulous players in the sector. “In some places it (the bill) is a little harsh on the builder but it brings more transparency for the consumer. It will give a boost to the real estate sector and weed out the unscrupulous people trying to make a quick buck in real estate,” he said.

Housing bubble or not?

Even as India faces a housing shortage of 18.78 million and the new Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Ajay Maken, saying that vacant houses in the sector imply that the housing bubble can burst anytime, Aggarwal said prices of residential properties do need to come down.

“In the last 4-5 years developers have started making houses catering to the middle income group. However, because land and developing it became so expensive, they (the developers) were not able to maintain the price levels that could cater to middle income housing,” he said.

The problem with that, he said, was that once that price barrier is crossed then the homes built for the middle income group become unaffordable for them and hence the vacancy. “While the specifications of that kind (middle income) of housing was made for the middle income, the prices have reached a level where only the high income group can buy it — so there is a disconnect,” Aggarwal said.

HChearing in toll plaza case deferred

CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday deferred the hearing of a case pertaining to the toll plaza of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, as the judge, Justice S K Mittal, who was hearing the case, was on leave. Now the hearing has been fixed for November 6.

Earlier on October 17, the division bench of the HC headed by Justice S K Mittal had issued a show-cause notice to the Gurgaon’s ACP (traffic) Ravinder Tomar and the HUDA Administrator, Praveen Kumar, asking them as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them for not complying with the October 8 orders pertaining to the case.

Both the officers were issued notices for removing the barricades near the Ambience Mall and permitting an L-turn in violation of the HC orders.

Apparently miffed with the decision of the HUDA administrator to remove the blockades in defiance of HC orders, Justice S K Mittal had observed that HUDA administrator had no authority to act against the directions of the court. He was not even the party in the case and if the directions were not suitable or could not be implemented, he and the ACP could have approached the bench for modification of the orders.

The court was also upset over the submissions of ACP (Traffic) Ravinder Tomar, who had deposed before the bench that directions of the bench had been implemented in right earnest.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/HC-hearing-in-toll-plaza-case-deferred/articleshow/17054919.cms

Builders must let residents manage their neighbourhood

GURGAON: The Haryana government has decided that the developer, as defined in the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, shall transfer the administration of the condominium to its residents’ welfare association (RWA) immediately after the grant of the occupation certificate.

The builders will also have to transfer administration in case the DTCP has given “part completion certificate”, a state government release said on Tuesday. The new rule has come into force with immediate effect and all the Senior Town Planners and District Town Planners have been informed for compliance. ,There are many condominiums for which the colonizers have secured only part completion and continue to keep all the administration under their control directly.

There is no timeline for the colonizers to hand over the administration to the RWAs but the flat owners in Gurgaon have greeted the development since it paves the way for managing their condominiums. The state government had swung into action after RWAs had raised the issue with the Gurgaon Senior Town Planner, R K Singh.

The RWAs had argued that the colonizers had executed the deed of declaration as required under Section 2 of the Haryana Apartment Ownership Act, 1983, after obtaining the occupation certificate but the administration of the condominium remained with the colonizer.

“The colonizer will take a plea that the project is not complete and the commercial side is to be developed and delay the handing over the administration to RWA. So unless the STP takes it seriously the new rule will not be implemented in letter and spirit,” said Raman Sharma, president, Gurgaon Progressive Forum.

The flat owners in Gurgaon condominiums have formed RWAs and there are 67 townships with muti-storey buildings that are occupied. At present, despite the existence of RWAs in condominiums the colonizers continue to keep all the records relating to the project.

Sharma said that new rule favours the RWA but colonizers were not keen to endorse it.

Explaining the reasons for the reluctance of the colonizers to hand over administration to RWAs, he said : “Before the hand-over the colonizers will have to pass on the entire details of the project that include the super area, common area and other factors like commercial and basement aspects. Now this will open a Pandora’s box and result in conflicts.”

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/Builders-must-let-residents-manage-their-neighbourhood/articleshow/17040749.cms

Local administration blamed for construction around IAF depot

GURGAON: In a hearing in Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday regarding illegal construction taking place within the restricted 900 metres IAF depot Gurgaon, the defence ministry counsel blamed the civic agencies for failing to prevent such construction from taking place.

According to sources, the counsel alleged that no action was being taken against people who were raising the unauthorized constructions.

It has been alleged that no monitoring has been done and the unauthorized construction was being raised in connivance with the state authorities.

After hearing the case, the court directed the authorities to conduct an inquiry into whether any fresh constructions were taking place within the restricted zone. The court also warned the state authorities that it would be treated as contempt of court if any new constructions took place in the future.

The district authorities said they were taking the necessary steps. “I have constituted teams of officers of the municipal corporation since the action against those involved in illegal construction in this area is covered by the Municipal Act,” said deputy commissioner, P C Meena.

Meanwhile, MCG officials informed the court about the number of illegal constructions they have demolished within a radius of 900 metres and also stated the action taken against the building owners, including registering FIRs against some of them.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/Local-administration-blamed-for-construction-around-IAF-depot/articleshow/17040756.cms

Builder ordered to pay Rs 20,000 to resident for delay

GURGAON: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered a builder to pay Rs 20,000 as compensation to a city resident for delaying possession of a flat.

The complainant, M C Goel, had booked a flat at GTM Residency’s Valley View project in 2005. The project was scheduled to be completed in 2008, but the construction is still going on.

During the hearing, the builder pleaded that the delay in completion of construction was due to non-availability of building material like steel and cement, and the firm’s dispute with the contractor.

The complainant, however, contended that the dispute between the builder and contractor is untenable. Goel approached the consumer forum against the builder for not delivering the flat within 30 months as per the agreement.

The consumer forum held that the complainant has a valid reason for seeking relief and stated that the builder was deficient in providing services to the complainant.

The complainant had argued that when the builder charges 24% interest on delay in payment, so in the case of delay in delivery, 24 % interest should be paid by the builder to the flat owners.

The consumer forum relied on a previous judgment of Supreme Court in which HUDA was made to pay 10% interest to the complainants for such a delay. The consumer forum ordered that the complainant is entitled to 10% per annum interest on the amount deposited by him to the builder from the date of each deposit till the possession of the flat.

Taking the serious note of the delay, the consumer forum said that the complainant has suffered agony and thus is entitled to a compensation of Rs 20,000 and litigation expense of Rs 5,000.

HUDA chief’s ‘violation’ of HC order may be questioned today

GURGAON: The hearing on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway issue will once again come up in Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday. There are various issues, including decongestion at the toll plazas, instructions to National Highway Authority of India ( NHAI) over the time frame to integrate the make-shift split toll plazas with the main system of toll collection, payment to Haryana police by the private concessionaire, Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Ltd’s (DGSCL) provision of security on the e-way on which the high court may issue directions.

While reversing its previous direction, the high court in the last hearing had allowed commuters to take an “L-turn” to go towards service lanes, the court had issued contempt notices to Gurgaon ACP (traffic) Ravinder Tomar and HUDA administrator Praveen Kumar asking them as to why proceedings for contempt of court should not be initiated against them for not complying the October 8 orders pertaining to the toll plaza of Delhi-Gurgaon expressway.

Both the officers have been issued notices for removing the barricades at the U-turn near the 32-lane toll plaza and allowing vehicles to go towards Ambience Mall while permitting an L-turn in violation of the HC orders.

This matter will also come up for hearing. The HUDA administrator had said following the high court’s direction over installation of new toll booths, that an improvement has been seen at the 32-lane toll plaza as no major traffic snarl was reported except for last Monday when toll barriers were removed on four occasions as the queue of vehicles had crossed the red line fixed by the court.

A DGSCL spokesperson said that around 2,000 vehicles were allowed to cross the toll gates free of charge in that scenario. “Due to the blocking of two lanes for VVIP movement for the Indian Ocean Rim Conference held in Gurgaon and the changes made in the plaza barricading configuration at the behest of the Gurgaon administration, there were brief periods of congestion at the toll plaza on October 29 evening. We ensured that the waiting time for commuters did not exceed 10 minutes by lifting the boom barriers in four separate incidents that evening and allowing 1,978 vehicles to go free of charge,” spokesperson added.

Real estate firm barred from selling disputed Mumbai property

GURGAON: In a significant development in Ozo Media Estate Property cheating case, a city has ordered the accused not to sell off the disputed land located at Andheri (West) in Mumbai.

Earlier, the investors, mostly Gurgaon residents and NRIs, had registered 17 FIRs against the accused. In the order, civil Judge cum-metropolitan magistrate, Meenu, stated that the court has restrained all accused persons from disposing off the property bearing city survey no 844/1-14 situated at Shah Industrial Estate, Veera Desai Road Andheri (West), Mumbai which has been used in commission of offences under different sections of IPC, till further order.

The complaints had lodged FIRs against the Mumbai-based company ( Ozo Media Estate Limited) that had taken crores of rupees by offering commercial space in 2006.

The complainants had claimed that the commercial space was offered to investors on land measuring 2,545 yards situated at Andheri West. The investors had paid money but the 25-floor project did not kick off. The investors registered the FIRs at the DLF Phase II police station had investigated the case.

The court order has come after long legal battle. In an application moved before the court, the complainant had stated that the city court had already taken cognizance of the case against one of the accused Vineet Handa, which was also upheld by the Supreme Court. Subsequently the court had directed Handa not to dispose off with the disputed piece on land. The Punjab and Haryana High Court in a separate petition had upheld criminal prosecutions against Handa’s co-accused on 5 October, which paved way for court’s proceedings against all accused in the case in the city court.

Let Ashok Khemka head HSIIDC, HUDA: Arvind Kejriwal

GURGAON: IAC activist Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday challenged the Haryana government to hand over the charges of two of the state’s urban development departments to IAS officer Ashok Khemka for two months. Attacking the nexus of IAS officials and the ruling Congress, Kejriwal demanded that Khemka be given charge of HSIIDC and HUDA.

Khemka was transferred a fortnight ago after he ordered scrutiny of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra’s land records with real estate major, DLF. Khemka has been transferred 43 times in his 19 years of service.

Addressing the Kisan Mahapanchayat at Manesar, Kejriwal said that during the tenure of Om Prakash Chautala as chief minister, Khemka had opposed the government’s decision to hand over 19 acres of land in Nathupur village to DLF.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently quashed the deal saying it was illegal, Kejriwal said.

HUDA working for builders: Arvind Kejriwal

MANESAR: Days after calling Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit an agent of power discoms, India Against Corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal blamed Haryana CM Bhupinder Hooda on Tuesday of favouring the builders. He was addressing farmers at the rashtriya kisan mahapanchayat who had gathered to protest against land acquisitions from farmers at cheap rates.

“Hooda is working on the behalf of private builders. He had to change the use of land bought by Robert Vadra so that he could sell the same land to DLF at much higher price. The chief minister knew that if he did not change the land use, Sonia Gandhi would have removed him from his post. Vadra is the son-in-law of not only the Congress party but he is desh ka damaad. Even the opposition parties are not willing to say anything against him,” said Kejriwal.

He also dared the Harayana chief minister to post whistle-blower IAS officer Ashok Khemka as the director of town and country planning. “I can challenge that if an honest officer like Khemka is posted in Gurgaon for just two months, all the ill-gotten money acquired by Vadra will come back to the exchequer,” he said.

Apart from Kejriwal, other IAC members including Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav and Manish Sisodia urged the farmers to continue their fight against the way the Haryana government is acquiring their land. IAC also announced that in the coming months a rally will be organized at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, where farmers from across the country will gather to oppose the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

The mahapanchayat was held under the leadership of retired IAS officer R C Rao.

Kejriwal also challenged the integrity of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala on corruption and said that he has assets worth over Rs.1,400 crore across the country.

The mahapanchayat demanded the inclusion of representatives of farmers in the making of a new land acquisition law.

In Manesar region, villagers are critical of manner in which the state government had been passing acquired land to private builders for developing townships and colonies. The region has over 600 acres of land acquired by the state government that is under litigation.

Attention: How they manage toll gates on Route 90 in Chicago

Having lived through nerve wracking traffic jams at the Sirhol toll barrier, I now look with new interest at such facilities to see how they work at other places. Currently in the US, I was driven recently through the toll plaza at Elgin on Route 90 out west from Chicago. The passage through the checkpoint was a breeze.

There were seven lanes on either side. On the extreme right (this is a right hand drive country) were the ones where cash is collected manually. The boom at the barrier is raised after the payment is made. Most motorists try to avoid this with the result that no long queues form here, too.

Closer to the divider are the three boom-less lanes. These are the ones used most. You just drive through. There is no horizontal bar to block the road at all. What you need is an I-Pass, which is something like the tag we have in India. If you have one of these, the charge is half i.e.75 cents and there is no waiting. The cameras read the ‘transponder’ affixed to the wind shield and the amount gets charged to your account.

It is estimated that daily commuters who use this cash-less facility save about two hours every week in driving time. But what happens to the violators? These are of two kinds. First there are those who have registered and obtained a transponder but have run out of money in their account. They get a specified time to settle the charges at the cash rate, which is $ 1.50. If they don’t, depending on the number of violations, they will pay the charge and a fine that starts at $ 20 (over Rs 1000).

All infringements are captured on the camera and motorists who do not have a transponder, but drive through the cashless lane pay fines starting at $ 100. If they don’t within a specified time, the license and/or registration of the car may be cancelled and the recovery of the money is entrusted to collection agents who do not have a reputation for politeness or courtesy.

On some of the smaller roads toll charges are also collected not in person, but through metallic baskets. The driver has to fling the exact change into the basket as he drives along, which counts electronically what has been proffered and within split seconds the barrier rises. To use this lane you need to carry the money in coins. A motorist I know tried to test the equipment by mixing a rupee coin with the American quarters (they are of the same size and weight), but it did not work. The boom did not rise until the deficiency in local coinage had been made up.

Whether such systems will work in India is debatable. But the basic principle is that people should be given an incentive to use the cashless facility (which comes at a 50% discount on the cash charge) and be made to pay a harsh penalty in case they violate the law. Motorists must see some positive advantage in using the tag lanes, otherwise why would they go through the hassle of getting the cards?

Incidentally, toll barriers in the US do not have a list of VIPs exempt from payment. Robert Vadra will find himself very out of place here. And the gun wielding MP from Gujarat will get locked up without a second thought.

Back in India, the advantage of dispensing with cash transfer at various exits becomes apparent with one look at the Sikanderpur metro station. As soon as the rush hour train pulls in, queues that span the entire length of the hall form for the exits. But even before you can say “Sikanderpur” they are gone. The reason for this is that no money changes hands at the turnstiles. Commuters carry either a token or a smart card and they either drop the first into the slot or flash the second and walk through.

The principle of cashless passage has to be developed at the toll plazas on the highways as well, to get rid of the congestion. One option could be to set up a few lanes before the actual barrier for people to buy single-use tags. Those who have regular tag cards can skip these lanes and then everybody just drives through the toll barriers. No cash changes hands. Of course, there have to be severe penalties for violators. But unless we have the will and the wherewithal to persecute them, we will have to reconcile ourselves to the perpetuation of the mess we are in.

Source:http://www.indianrealtynews.com/category/real-estate-india/gurgaon