Settle dispute amicably: Supreme Court to Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, realtor

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked minister of state Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Parsvnath developers to sit together and amicably settle the dispute over allocation of a habitable flat by the developer in Gurgaon.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and A M Khanwilkar asked the minister not to make unreasonable demands and also told the company to take all steps to remove deficiencies in the flat allotted to him as pointed out by a two-member committee appointed by it.

It asked both the parties to discuss the issue with members of the committee — advocates Gopal Sankarnarayanan and Gaurav Agrawal — to come out with a solution to bring to an end the legal dispute. The court made it clear that it could not compel the developer to allocate an alternate flat as the company contended that all flats in the project were sold out.

Rathore had booked a flat in Parsvnath Exotica project in Sector 53 of Gurgaon in 2006 and had paid around Rs 75 lakh. The developer had promised to hand over the flat by October 2009 but failed to fulfil its assurance, forcing him to initiate legal action.

Although the developer has handed over the possession of the flat on Supreme Court's direction, Rathore, however, had complained to SC that the flat was not habitable as it lacked basic facilities including parking space. The court, thereafter, had appointed a two-member fact-finding committee.

The committee said in its report that the house was not handed over as promised at the time of booking and there were many deficiencies some of which was not rectifiable.

Rathore's advocate Kaveeta Wadia, alleged that the developer had not given occupancy certificate and fire safety clearance. "The company must allot me a flat in the tower which is well-connected and having access to common facilities," she submitted on behalf of Rathore.

The developer, however, assured the court that it was taking steps to remove deficiencies as pointed out by the committee.