- Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal restored Orchid Turf View's residential registration
- The Tribunal fined DB Realty promoters 2% of project cost for misleading the regulator
- Promoters sought to change land use from residential to commercial without full consent
The Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal has quashed MahaRERA's earlier order permitting the deregistration of the Orchid Turf View housing project, restoring its original residential registration.
The order deals a setback to plans by Prestige Group and DB Realty to redevelop the site as a commercial property.
The Tribunal also penalised the DB Realty-linked promoters of Turf Estate Joint Venture LLP, fining them 2% of the project cost after finding that they had misled the regulator to secure approval for the changes.
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The project, originally registered as "DB Turf View" under Section 5 of the RERA Act, had 27 allottees.
The promoters had sought a change in promoter under Section 15 of the Act, along with a shift in the project's land use from residential to commercial, claiming consent from two-thirds of allottees, the threshold required under the law.
However, five of the 27 allottees had not agreed to the change. MahaRERA had allowed the promoter switch and subsequent deregistration in 2022, even though the RERA Act contains no explicit provision permitting such deregistration of a project.
The Tribunal found that the consent relied upon by the promoters included that of buyers who had already been refunded and had exited the project altogether, and held that this consent could not lawfully be counted towards the two-thirds threshold.
It further ruled that the cancellations of allotments carried out in the process were illegal and unenforceable.
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As part of its order, the Tribunal has directed the promoters to execute registered sale agreements with the affected buyers within one month, and has mandated that the project now proceed under its original, sanctioned residential plans rather than the commercial redevelopment envisaged by Prestige-DB Realty.
The ruling marks a significant setback for the joint commercial ambitions of Prestige Group and DB Realty at the site, and reinforces buyer-protection safeguards under the RERA framework against promoters seeking to alter project plans without full, valid allottee consent.
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