Pursuant to the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (‘RERA’), the State Government of Maharashtra published the draft of the Maharashtra Real Estate (Regulation and Development) (Registration of Real Estate Projects, Registration of Real Estate Agents, Rates of Interest and Disclosures on Website) Rules, 2016 (the ‘Draft Rules’) to invite comments from the general public. The Draft Rules and the comments will be taken into consideration by the Maharashtra Government on or after December 23, 2016. The Draft Rules provide for registration fees payable by the promoters for registration of their projects as well as the fee payable by real estate agents who are also required to be registered under the RERA. While the Draft Rules continue to provide for the retention of 70% of the amounts realized from allottees in relation to a specific project in a separate bank account, it has provided further detail and clarity as to what constitutes construction costs and land costs for a particular project and the amounts that may be withdrawn by the promoter at various stages of construction. The Draft Rules have clarified that the construction costs would include the principal sums and interest, paid or payable to any financial institutions including scheduled banks or NBFCs etc., or money-lenders for the relevant project. Mr. Gautam Chatterjee, IAS, Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister, has been appointed as the special officer under the RERA for the State of Maharashtra pursuant to the Government Resolution dated December 26, 2016.