Flat given by Parsvnath is uninhabitable, says state Min Rathore

The Supreme Court, on November 9, 2016, appointed a two-member lawyers’ panel, to inspect the facilities at the flat of minister of state Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in Parsvnath Developers’ Exotica project in Gurgaon, after he claimed it was ‘uninhabitable’.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy, directed the committee to submit its report in two weeks and look into the allegations made by the MoS for information and broadcasting.

The counsel for Rathore said the flat, which was allotted to him, did not have access to common facilities of the project, as was shown in the site map at the time of booking. While the tower in which the flat is located had a ‘kachcha’ access road which opened into a slum cluster, there was no parking facility provided and the tower did not have an occupancy certificate, he said.

The counsel for the builder said that if Rathore had so much problems, he could take a refund, adding that the flat was in a good condition and work at the project site was going on. Rathore’s counsel said they did not want refund, as they have contested for so long to get the flat and urged the court that another flat be given to him, in a tower which has the occupancy certificate.

The court, however, said it cannot be done, as Rathore had booked a flat of his own choice.

“The members of the committee will go and inspect what is the shortest and longest route to common facilities which everyone is getting. It will also look into the allegations of parking facilities, kachcha road, etc.,” the bench said.

The court appointed advocates Gaurav Aggarwal and Shankar Narayan, as members of the committee, directing them to submit the report in two weeks and posted the matter for November 29, 2016. It also asked the parties to cooperate with the committee.

Rathore had booked a flat in Parsvnath’s Exotica project in Gurgaon in 2006 and paid around Rs 70 lakhs for it. The firm was to deliver the flat in 2008-09. The apex court had, on October 21, 2016, directed Parsvnath Developers to hand over possession of a flat in its Gurgaon project to Rathore in two days, saying that the minister should not pay any more amount to the developer. The court had that 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 of the hearing.