Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file counter affidavit listing steps taken for functioning of the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal.
The issue came to light during the hearing of a case in which the petitioner had approached the high court for relief despite an appeal filed before the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal.
The appeal was pending with the Tribunal as it could not be taken up due to non-availability of members.
A division bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Manish Kumar passed the order while hearing a developer’s petition seeking relief.
During the hearing of the case, the petitioner’s advocate Abhishek Khare apprised the court of the Tribunal’s non-functional status.
“Only chairman of the Tribunal Justice (retd) D.K. Arora is holding the charge. While the posts of remaining three members have been lying vacant since September 27, 2023,” Khare told the court.
On this, the court observed: “It is stated by the counsel of the petitioner that the UP Real Estate Appellate Tribunal at this stage is non-functional due to non-availability of the members. Hence, he has approached this court despite an appeal filed before the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal.”
The appellate tribunal examines the legality or correctness of any order or decision of the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP RERA).