Hyderabad, April 02: Announcing its resolve to focus on adhering to ethical standards in the real estate industry, the new office-bearers of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) on Friday appealed to the government to have uniform guidelines and rationalisation of taxes.
Speaking to presspersons here today, Lalith Jain, president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India-National, sought single window clearances for approvals throughout the country, rationalisation of tax and moderation of stamp duty which currently varied from State to State.
Delays
“We spend up to three years to start a project. Real estate is capital intensive and such delays for permissions and clearances are bound to affect us,” he said. More than 40 departments need to be approached for clearances, Mr. Jain said, adding, “We request the government to create a single comprehensive checklist of all the departments to enable early clearances through a single window system.”
Stressing the need for rational taxation, he said different taxes took away a substantial part of the project cost and affordable housing would be possible only when these were rationalised.
Code of conduct
The CREDAI member associations adopted a code of conduct which would be signed by every developer in each State.
The association which already had consumer redressal cells in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Kerala, would have the facility in other States too to address consumer disputes.
C. Shekhar Reddy, CREDAI vice-president, called for focus on consumer redressal forum and to get more members pledged under the code of conduct.
T. Chitty Babu, honorary secretary of CREDAI, observed that the foremost need in the realty sector was establishment and execution of ethical business practices. “We need to stress on policies that ensure transparency in documentation, building to a plan and ensuring legal compliance to make the sector customer friendly,” he said.
-Agencies