1. Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Bihar issued a suo motu showcause notice on 24-08-2021 to the respondent company for contravention of section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act 2016 by advertising the project Viraaj City, Danapur, Bihta Highway without registering the project with RERA, Bihar. The promoters were directed to show cause as to why proceedings under Section 35 & 59 of the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act 2016 may not be initiated against them.

2. The respondent has filed reply on 10-01-2024 stating therein that the respondent applied for the registration of the project but the application for registration of the project got rejected on 23-03-2022 as the project was outside planning area. He stated that the former sales staff/ executives leaked the advertisement on their website for their livelihood against which respondent company already removed those employees namely Madhu Singh and Dheeraj Kumar. The respondent has prayed to remove Vishal Bharti, Madhu Singh and Deeraj Kumar from the array of Parties as they are former Director/ Sales Executive of the company.

3. The learned counsel for the respondent appeared before the Authority on 12-01-24 and reiterated the reply filed by him.

4. The Authority takes note that under the first proviso of Section 3 of the Act, all the ongoing real estate projects were required to register by 31st July, 2017 with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Bihar. Further, Section 3 of the Act provides that no promoter can advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale or invite persons to purchase in any manner any plot, apartment or building as the case may be, in any real estate projector part of it, in any planning area within a State, without registering the real estate project with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) established under this Act.

5. The term Advertisement has been defined in the section 2 (b) of the Act as follows: “Advertisement means any document described or issued as advertisement through any medium and includes any notice, circular or other documents or publicity in any form, informing persons about a real estate project, or offering for sale of a plot, building or apartment or inviting persons to purchase in any manner such plot, building or apartment or to make advances or deposits for such purposes.”

6. The Authority takes note that under section 69(1) Where an Offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time, the offence was committed was in charge of, or was responsible to the company for the conduct of, the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

7. Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section, shall render any such person liable to any punishment under this Act if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

8. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

9. As per document available on record. It is established that the respondent company has advertised their project without registering the project with the Authority and thereby violated the provisions of Section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016.

10. The Authority takes note of the technical report submitted by the technical wing of Bihar RERA dated 29-01-2024.

11. Since the respondent company has contravened the provisions of Section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, by advertising their project without registering it with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Bihar, the Authority has decided to levy a penalty as per Section 59(1) of the RERA Act, 2016. The penalty amount is Rs. 1,00,000/-. This amount is to be paid by the respondent company within sixty days of the issuance of this order. Furthermore, the Authority directs to remove all the advertisement of the project from all medium. The promoter is also directed to apply for the registration of the said project within 2 weeks. Noncompliance with this direction will result in action under Section 59(2).

12. With these directions, the matter is disposed of. A copy of the order may be mailed to the promoter.