Patna: The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) in Bihar has asked all builders and developers to get their ongoing and new projects registered with the authority by April 30, failing which punitive action would be taken against them.

Rera Bihar chairman Afzal Amanullah made this announcement during a media interaction here on Thursday. Rera was set up in accordance with provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, to usher in complete transparency in the real estate sector and regulate it in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

According to provisions of the Act any builder or developer undertaking an ongoing project or starting a new project that has an area of over 500 square metres or an apartment having more than eight flats, needs to register the project with Rera failing which punitive action can be initiated by the against the builder.

Amanullah, who was accompanied by two Rera members - Subodh Kumar Sinha and Rajiv Bhushan Sinha - said that after receiving application from builders, the authority would complete the registration process within 30 working days.

Asked how the authority would find out builders who have not registered their projects till April 30, member R.B. Sinha said: "We would collect details of all such projects from the authorities which give sanctions like map approval etc and then start taking action against defaulters."

Amanullah, on the other hand, urged prospective real estate buyers to check the veracity of projects before investing money. "Consumers should first check whether the project has been registered with the authority as it has now become compulsory," he said.

As far as the real estate market is concerned, there is a grey area on which Rera Bihar has not made up its mind so far. As things stand here, most apartments, which have been sold in the past and in which people are living, do not have completion certificate or occupancy certificate issued by the competent authority.

According to provisions of the real estate Act all such buildings should be considered as ongoing project and technically builders would have to register such projects also with Rera.

Asked about confusion on this issue, Amanullah said, "We will take a view on this issue later."