MoS Rathore and builder in negotiation over flat, SC told

Negotiations over settlement of disputes with regard to the possession of a flat between Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Parsvnath Developers are underway, the Supreme Court was informed today.
A two-member committee of lawyers appointed by the apex court to look into the allegations of Rathore that the flat given to him by the developer is uninhabitable, told a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi that negotiations between the parties are going on.
"Both parties are in negotiation with each other over the disputes. Two weeks time is needed to arrive at any conclusion," advocate Gopal Shankarnaryan, one of the members of the committee, told the bench.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing on February 13.
The apex court had on December 14 asked Rathore to sit together with the representatives of the builder and settle the dispute amicably with regard to the possession of the flat in Gurugram.
The court had also asked 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.

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

Rathore had alleged 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 Gurugram 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 compensate 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.