Supreme Court Strikes Down West Bengal Real Estate Law, Calls It "Unconstitutional"

The judgement came on a plea of Forum For People's Collective Efforts' , an umbrella homebuyers association, challenging the constitutional validity of West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act, 2017, which is more or less identical to the Centre's RERA.

The Supreme Court today struck down West Bengal's law on regulating real estate sector saying it was unconstitutional as the state's statute encroached upon the Centre's Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA). The Supreme Court also said that West Bengal HIRA has failed to include valuable safeguards for the homebuyers'. A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah said the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act (HIRA), 2017 is more or less identical to the Centre's RERA and hence repugnant to Parliament's law. The state law has encroached upon the domain of the Parliament and hence is unconstitutional, the verdict said.