The Supreme Court today asked reality firm Parsvnath Developers to file its response on the report of a two-member lawyer's panel it had appointed to inspect the facilities at the flat of Minister of State Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in Exotica project in Gurgaon, after he had claimed it was "uninhabitable".
A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy which took on record the report of the panel, asked the firm to file its reply in ten days.
The panel comprising advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Gaurav Agarwal in its report said that the flat allotted to the minister had no access to the common facilities at the project while the parking facility problem could be rectified by the builder.
"There were two points which were asked by the apex court to look into at the project. As far as assess to common facilities is concerned there is no such access. The parking facility problem could be rectified by the developer," Sankaranarayanan said.
The counsel appearing for the reality firm said that it is willing to refund the amount to the minister and ready to cooperate with him.
The counsel for Rathore, however, said that everytime the developer is making the same submission and his client does not want refund but the flat.
The bench posted the matter for further hearing on December 12.
The apex court had on November 9, appointed the panel after Rathore's counsel complained that the flat, which the court had earlier directed the real estate firm to be handed over to him, was "uninhabitable".
The court had directed the committee to submit its report in two weeks and look into the allegations made by the MoS for Information and Broadcasting.
Rathore had alleged that 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 had said.
Rathore had booked a 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 in its Gurgaon project to Rathore in two days, saying he should not pay any more amount to the developer.
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 of the hearing.
Earlier, the apex court had rapped real estate firms for making tall claims to purchasers which remained unfulfilled due to inordinate delay in completing the housing projects.
The court had on October 18 directed the SC registry to disburse Rs 12 crore, deposited by real estate firm Parsvnath Buildwell Pvt Ltd, to 70 home buyers on pro-rata basis after proper identification.
It had also directed the firm to deposit Rs 10 crore by December 10 with the Supreme Court registry.
The apex court's observation had come after Parsvnath Buildwell Pvt Ltd had said it would give the flats to 70 home buyers, who are before the court, by December 17.
The apex court had on September 15 directed the firm to deposit Rs 12 crore within four weeks as interest bearing short-term deposit for delaying giving possession of flats to home buyers in its Ghaziabad project.
On August 26, the developer had told the court that they were in "serious financial difficulty" as they had suffered a loss of around Rs 400 crore last year. They had also said they would hand over possession of the flats in its delayed project at Ghaziabad within a year.
The firm was asked by the apex consumer commission NCDRC in May to refund the principal amount in four weeks with 12 per cent interest, Rs 3 lakh as compensation and Rs 25,000 as litigation cost to 70 buyers who had booked flats in the Parsvnath Exotica project, Ghaziabad.
The court was also informed that 854 flats were to be constructed in the project and 818 buyers had made bookings.
Parsvnath Developers Ltd had moved the apex court against the apex consumer commission's order asking it to refund the money to 70 buyers along with interest.
