New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act, 2017 (WBHIRA), ruling the act as unconstitutional and repugnant to the Centre’s Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA).
Pointing out the WBHIRA as a parallel law, a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Mr Shah said, “The state law has encroached upon the domain of Parliament.”
The bench also said that the act has failed to include valuable safeguards for the homebuyers in the state.
The apex court clarified that all sanctions and registrations previously granted under the WBHIRA before the date of the ruling shall continue to prevail.
The judgment comes on a plea filed by the Forum for People’s Collective Efforts (FPCE), an umbrella association for homebuyers.
“If WBHIRA is allowed to continue, it would give way for state legislatures to enter into other fields to legislate under the concurrent list, which is otherwise occupied by central legislations,” the petitioner said in the plea.