The Central Advisory Council — Land Law Notes

The Central Advisory Council

RERA is run at the State level — each State has its own Authority and Tribunal. But real estate is a national market, and someone has to keep an eye on the whole picture: are the State regulators working, is the sector growing, are consumers protected across India? That job goes to a small central body that only advises — the Central Advisory Council — set up by the Central Government under section 41.

What the Council is

Here is the everyday picture: the Central Advisory Council is the Centre’s sounding board on real estate. It does not register projects, hear complaints or pass orders — those are the State Authority’s jobs. Its role is purely advisory: to advise the Central Government on how the Act is working and on policy for the sector. It is established by the Central Government by notification.

Section 42, RERA, 2016: the Central Advisory Council shall advise and recommend to the Central Government “on all matters concerning the implementation of this Act; on major questions of policy; towards protection of consumer interest; to foster the growth and development of the real estate sector; and on any other matter as may be assigned to it by the Central Government.”

In Simple Terms: The Council’s whole job is to give advice — on whether the Act is working, on policy, and on protecting consumers. It has no power to decide anything; it only recommends, and the Government is free to accept or ignore it.

A. Composition (s. 41)

Chairperson (ex officio) — the Union Minister in charge of Housing heads the Council.
Government members — representatives of the Ministries of Finance, Industry and Commerce, Urban Development, Consumer Affairs, Corporate Affairs, and Law and Justice; NITI Aayog, the National Housing Bank, and HUDCO.
State and regulator representation — five representatives of State Governments (by rotation) and five representatives of the State Authorities (by rotation).
Sector and consumer representation — not more than ten members representing the real-estate industry, consumers, real-estate agents, construction labourers, NGOs, and academic/research bodies.

B. Functions (s. 42)

The Council advises the Central Government on the implementation of the Act, major questions of policy, protection of consumer interest, fostering the growth and development of the real-estate sector, and any other matter assigned to it.

⚠️ Do NOT confuse the Central Advisory Council (advisory, central) with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (operational, State-level). The Council only advises; the Authority actually registers, decides and enforces. And note this is RERA’s own s. 41–42 — nothing to do with the RFCTLARR ss. 41–42 (SC/ST safeguards) of Unit 1.

🧩 WORKED EXAMPLE — advice, not orders

Facts. A homebuyers’ group, frustrated with a slow State Authority, petitions the Central Advisory Council to order the State regulator to speed up and to penalise a builder.

Rule. Under ss. 41–42 the Council is a purely advisory body chaired by the Union Housing Minister; it advises the Central Government on implementation, policy and consumer protection, and has no adjudicatory or enforcement power.

Apply. The Council cannot order the State Authority or penalise the builder — those powers belong to the State Authority (Topic 6) and Tribunal (Topic 7). At most the Council can advise the Central Government on the systemic problem the group has flagged.

Conclusion. The group has knocked on the wrong door: enforcement lies with the State Authority; the Council only shapes policy advice.

flowchart TD
    ROOT["Central Advisory Council<br/>(ss. 41-42) — advisory only"]:::root
    ROOT --> C["COMPOSITION (s.41)<br/>Chair: Union Housing Minister (ex officio)<br/>Ministries + NITI Aayog, NHB, HUDCO<br/>5 States + 5 State Authorities (rotation)<br/>up to 10 sector/consumer members"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> F["FUNCTIONS (s.42)<br/>advise Centre on implementation,<br/>policy, consumer protection,<br/>growth of the sector"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> X["NOT the Regulatory Authority<br/>(no registration / adjudication /<br/>enforcement power)"]:::warn
    classDef root fill:#FFF8DC,stroke:#000,stroke-width:1px,color:#000;
    classDef leaf fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;
    classDef warn fill:#FDECEA,stroke:#B22222,color:#000;
    linkStyle default stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px;

Case Laws

Neelkamal Realtors and Developers Pvt. Ltd. vs Union of India (2017) — upheld the overall institutional design of RERA, within which the Central Advisory Council sits as the Centre’s advisory body alongside the State-level operational Authorities.

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