OREAT: Odisha RERA’s Fee Retention is Arbitrary
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (OREAT) has recently ruled that the Odisha Real Estate Regulatory Authority (ORERA) cannot withhold the full registration fees for projects in cases of rejection or delayed withdrawal. The tribunal deemed such actions arbitrary and lacking in legal foundation. The tribunal delivered this verdict while reviewing two similar appeals involving prominent residential projects in the city, dismissing ORERA’s refusal to issue refunds and ordering the return of the registration fees, retaining only 12% for processing costs. In total, ORERA collected over Rs 20 lakh in registration fees from the two developers. In the first…