Sit with builder and iron out differences: SC to MoS Rathore

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today asked Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to sit together with the representatives of Parsvnath Developers and settle the dispute with regard to the possession of a flat in the Exotica project in Gurgaon.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and A M Khanwilkar asked the the realty firm to remove the deficiences in the flat as pointed out by Rathore and the panel of lawyers which had visited the site and hand it over to the Minister.

The counsel appearing for Rathore said that the court should direct the builder to given some other flat in the project which had access to common facilities that were promised to him at the time of booking.

Counsel appearing for the firm said that the prayer cannot be accepted as all the flats in the project have been sold out.

"You (Rathore) have to be reasonable in your demands. We cannot compel the petitioner (Parsvnath builders) to allot another flat to you," the bench said.

The court directed that both the parties should sit together and try to sort out the issues with regard to the flat.

Earlier, the apex court-appointed lawyers' panel had said in its report that their was no access to common facilities from the flat of Minister of state for Information and Broadcasting but the parking problem pointed out by him can be rectified by the builder.

The court had asked the builder to file a response to the finding of committee in ten days after Rathore claimed the flat was "uninhabitable".

He had said that the tower in which his flat was located had a 'kachcha' access road which opened into a slum cluster, there was no parking facility and the tower did not have even the occupancy certificate.

Rathore had booked the flat in Parsvnath's Exotica project in Gurgaon in 2006 and paid around Rs 70 lakh for it. The firm was to deliver the flat in 2008-09.

In January this year, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission had directed the builder to refund the principal amount with interest and compensation to Rathore.

The apex court had on October 21 directed Parsvnath Developers to hand over possession of the flat to Rathore in two days, saying he should not pay any more amount to the builder.

The court had said the issue of compensation to be paid by the realty firm to Rathore for the delayed possession would be dealt with at a later stage.